Rainforests are very dense, warm and wet. Slightly over 2% of the world consists of rainforests but they contain more than 50% of all the animal species in the world! There are two different types of rainforests, tropical and temperate. Tropical and Temperate rainforests have many things in common, but tropical rainforests are found near the equator and temperate rainforests are found near coastlines. Tropical rainforests can receive as much as 400 inches of rain water a year! Average temperatures of tropical rainforests are around 80 degrees Fahrenheit all year and the seasons do not change. Also around half of the world’s tropical rainforests are located in Latin America.

Temperate rainforests are cool and wet and they can receive only about 100 inches of rain a year. The cool and moist air of the temperate rainforest helps support many different types of fauna. Rainforests have 4 different height levels- the forest floor, understory, canopy, and the Emergents, respectively from the ground up. Rainforests can be found on every continent in the world except Antarctica. Every day thousands of acres of land are being chopped down in the Amazon, the largest rainforest in the world. Rainforests have many natural cures to many diseases in the world. Many environmentalists around the world are trying to prevent logging in the Amazon.