JungleBy: Carmen

Plants

Some plants in the amazon are the hot lips flower, aphelandra flower, shell ginger, hirtella and melastoma leaf.

The hot lips flower is something that the indigenous people use for several mediational purposes.

The aphelandra flower grows about two feet tall with dark green leaves with ivory colored veins.

The shell ginger is now grown throughout the world as an ornamental.

The melastoma leaf is a plant that is covered with very fine hairs.

Hot lips flower

Melastoma leaf

Climate

Jungles occur in areas with a annual rainfall levels and high enough temperatures to create humid, steamy conditions in the under story below the tree canopy.

These forest are typically found around the equator, an area that naturally receives high temperatures, periods of monsoon level rainfall and nearly identical temperature conditions year round.

Consistent weather allows jungle organisms to grow throughout the year without a hibernation period.

Graph of the climate in the jungle.

How tall the trees are

The trees are the first thing you will notice about a jungle.

The trees can be as tall as a mountain.

The trees are about 150ft tall !

The trees of a rain forest have to grow quickly to reach sun light.

It is a race to the sun light and they are very competitive.

Graph of how tall jungle trees are.

What is the weather like

Highs can reach up to 91 degrees Fahrenheit (32 deg. C) during the day.

Can fall as low as 71 degrees Fahrenheit (22 Deg. C) during the night.

Although the weather in Iquitos stays roughly uniformed.

It is important to know that there are also high and low water seasons.

Water levels can rise incredible 23 feet towards the end of the year.

Graph of the climate in the amazon.

How do the plants survive

Plants survive by adapting to there environment.

Plant turn there leaves to the sunlight to catch as much light as possible.

Plants also grow there leaves before the trees so they can catch as much sun light as possible before being covered with tree leaves.

Plants get a lot of sun light and water in the jungle so there is a lot of plant species.

All the plants just have to compete for sunlight.

The trees competing for sun light.

How do the animals survive

Animals use the jungle as there home, food, water, and a place to play.

Animals survive by helping one another like spreading seeds for food or shelter.

Rainforest animals spreading seeds.

What kind of food can be found in the jungle

In the jungle there is Allspice, black pepper, Cardamom, coconuts and many more.

Allspice is berries shaped like peppercorns of an evergreen tree.

Black pepper is a vine native to the East Indies.

Native to India is the third most expensive spice Cardamom.

Coconuts are now found on virtually every tropical shore but not the rain forest it is self.

To the right is allspice and to left is cardamom.

Animals

Chimpanzees are highly intelligent species which share 98 percent of the genetic blueprint of humans.

The cougar, also referred to as the puma, mountain lion or panther, is one of the most powerful predators in the Americas.

the jaguar is the only species of the Panther genus found in the Americas.

Monkeys form yet another group of jungle animals, with more than 260 species inhabiting different forest of the world.

While 90 percent of this group is made up of different species of king fishers, it also consists of birds like bee eaters, toddies, hornbills marmots ,etc.

This is a picture of a chimpanzee.

How big is a jungle

Tropical rain forest only cover about 6% of the earth’s surface, but they are home to more than half the worlds total animal species.

The rain forest have begun to be destroyed in the last 100 years to make way for farm land. Today, the rainforest are being destroyed by 1.5 acres every second. That is not a typo.

If deforestation continues we will lose the rain forest or jungle in the next 40 years or so.

The jungle gets smaller every day.