What Is A Rainforest?

A rainforest can be described as a tall, dense jungle. It is called a rainforest because of the high amount of rain it gets each year. Rainforests have a minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750mm and 2000mm.
The climate of a rainforest is very hot and humid, meaning that the animals and plants that live there have to learn to adapt to the climate.

The largest tropical rainforests exist in the Amazon Basin (the Amazon Rainforest), Nicaragua (Los Guatuzos, Bosawas, and Indio-Maiz) and many other places. Places where temperate rainforests can be found include British Columbia, southeastern Alaska, western Oregon, and Washington, Scotland and Norway.

It has been estimated that many hundreds of millions of new species of plants, insects and microorganisms are still undiscovered.

Rainforests are divided into four different parts, each with different plants and animals, adapted for life in that particular area.

Tropical rainforests are the source of many medicinal drugs, with over half the medications originating from the rainforest. Many foods originally came from tropical forests.

Rainforests also have value as tourism destinations.