Do you know what rain forests are? They are forests that form where it rains a lot. Almost every day of the year! Rain forests are found in the area between the tropic of cancer and the tropic of Capricorn(area above and below the equator). Look at the map below and you will understand.

No wonder rain forests are found in South America, Africa, South East Asia and very small part of Australia. In these areas, sun shines strongly everyday of the year. Sun and rain everyday of the year make rain forests very warm, wet and dense.

Rain forests have very tall trees some over 100 feet tall! Phew! That’s as tall as a ten store building!. Branches and leaves of these tall and dense trees intertwine to make a cover at top. This cover is called a canopy.

Canopy allows very little sunlight or rain to pass through it to the bottom also called forest floor. Most animals like monkeys, sloths, small cats, frogs, lizards, birds, snakes live in the canopy. Animals like jaguars, tigers, tapirs, leopards, elephants, gorillas live on the forest floor.

Rain forests are often known as lungs of planet earth because they produce huge amounts of oxygen that we breathe. They are home to amazing variety of  plants and animals. Sadly, today rain forests are disappearing fast as humans are cutting them for wood, making roads, agriculture etc.