Exotic, rare and incredible, these are just a few words to describe the rainforest animals in our world. Guarded from the eye by thick foliage and supported by an incredible ecosystem like the rainforest, animals have colorful bodies and unique characteristics that a very few other animals show. Unfortunately, dwindling rainforest means these animals are also becoming rarer and rarer.
Scientists have estimated that rainforest animals make up almost 50% of the animal species in the world. It means that in a small and densely populated area, there are as many different species of rainforest animals as is there in the rest of the world. It’s quite mind boggling to think of and even more amazing to watch.
Unlike animals in the other forests, there are more rainforest animals per square inch of these forests living in total harmony. Rainforest animals include small insects, beetles and butterflies, spiders and scorpions, snakes and lizards, frogs and toads, birds, monkeys and orangutans, gorillas and elephants, alligator and crocodiles, tigers, leopards and jaguars and the list goes on and on. And these are only to name the ones we recognize.
Apart from these, there are millions of rainforest animals that are undocumented by scientists because they live too deep or too high in the forests to be seen or documented. Moreover, there is a certain stratospheric arrangement among the rainforest animals. For instance birds live almost over the dense foliage, making their nests on top of the tallest trees. Below them we can find the monkeys and orangutans and even snakes. Insects are pretty much found in all heights, but the bigger animals like tigers and reptiles like crocodiles mostly live on forest floor. Of course, there could be an occasional jaguar or an anaconda curled up high above the ground, waiting to pounce of their prey.
Common to all the rainforests is the dense forest. The Rainforests are actually divided into four layers based on the pattern and size of the trees. The top most layer consists of very tall trees called emergent that grow anywhere between 45 to 80 meters high. This layer, called the emergent layer for obvious reasons, is home to many birds in the rainforests like the eagle.
Below this layer comes the actual canopy of the rainforests formed by densely populated trees that grow up to 45 meters high. This layer is the richest in terms of flora and fauna, with exotic orchids like plants, insects and small animals etc. Because of height and density this layer has only been explored marginally by scientists.
Even though the rainforests are full of carnivorous predators, a large number of rainforest animals are actually herbivores. Above them are the insects and arachnids that prey on each other mostly. Also size need not necessarily determine the food chain in a rainforests. Giant poisonous tarantulas are known to bring birds down and small poisonous frogs can kill bigger snakes.
Being a self contained ecosystem, all rainforest animals play their own part in the maintenance of the ecosystem. This kind of harmony is rarely to be seen outside of rainforests, as outside interference from humans have fractured most other eco-systems.
For rainforest animals, hidden under the shaded trees is a world that is constantly moving and thriving. Rainforests never fall asleep and nighttimes are actually more vibrant that many. Scientists have documented various animals with phosphoric skin element that seem to light up the dark forests. And the fight for survival among these rainforest animals is almost continuous. Rainforest animals continue to contribute to their world even after death, with their bodies converting into organic food for plants. The constant moisture and green house effect also breeds a number of larger than average small animals in these forests that are not well documented. Even though men are destroying the rainforests almost daily, there still remain thousands of unknown rainforest animals whose contribution to their world we will never know of.
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