Animals of the rainforest
Rainforests are wonderful places to find many different animals. There are big mammals like jaguars and unusual amphibians like frogs and lots of interesting butterflies, spiders, birds, and beetles. Many of these animals are not found anywhere else in the world.
All of these animals live at different levels of the rainforest. Of course up in the rainforest canopy is where you will find many birds. They prefer to fly about and hide in the high leaves of the trees. Some mammals like the howler monkeys live in the trees. You will find jaguars prowling on the rainforest floor and some of the spiders, butterflies, and beetles travel all about.
• The insects outnumber all of the other animals in the rainforest.
• In the rainforest, most of the animals prefer to eat plants instead of meat.
• As more of the rainforest is destroyed, the animals lose their homes and food. Many of these creatures cannot live in other locations.
• Anacondas live in the rain forest- they are the biggest snakes that are known.
The rainforest animals have many ways of trying to stay safe. They have to hide from other creatures that might eat them. There are also many humans who hunt and trap many of the rainforest dwellers. Here are some of the ways that animals protect themselves.
• Hiding is always a good way for smaller animals to stay out of sight. Some of them will hide in hollow trees, or among the tall tree limbs. Others might snuggle under fallen leaves or even under rocks.
• There are some rainforest creatures that are able to blend into their surroundings. They can remain in full view and still not be seen, almost like they become invisible. The Indian Leaf Butterfly and the insect known as a Walking Stick are very hard to see even when you are looking right at them. The tree dwelling sloth moves so slow that you may not ever see him and most of them have green algae covering much of their fur. This lets them blend into the leaves of any tree.
• Some insects have special designs on their bodies and wings that make them look like they extra large eyes or heads. This is all the protection they need to scare away many hungry hunters.
• There are even special colours and designs on some animals that let others know they are poisonous if eaten. Animals learn quickly to leave these types of creatures alone. The Monarch Butterfly is a great example of how well these warnings work.
Some interesting rainforest dwellers:
Bonobos- these animals are related to chimps and they are clever, fun loving and gentle.
Binturong- this animal reminds some people of a large cat with dark, thick fur and a bushy tail. The Binturong is found in rainforests in southern Asia.
Cassowary (pictured above) - this is a bird but it cannot fly, found in rainforests in Australia. You can identify these by the crest on their head. Their crest resembles an old helmet.
Emerald Tree Boa- this is a beautiful green snake with white banding around its body. The green colour is a great camouflage that helps the snake catch its food.
Keel Billed Toucan- This is the beautiful bird that looks even prettier than the one you may have seen on boxes of cereal.
Julia Butterfly- this yellow and orange butterfly sometimes is seen in other areas besides the rainforests. These butterflies love the nectar of passionflowers.
Morpho Butterfly- This dazzling royal blue butterfly lives in the rainforests of Central and South America.
This is an original news article © The Kids Window
If you are interested in animals you can read about some of the world's endangered animals inside our kids pages section. We also have an interesting page that lists some of the extinct animals from years ago. For a little animal playtime fun take a look at our great children's animal costumes inside!
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