In the Rainforest
Climb up and meet the animals The Forest Floor · The Understorey · The Canopy · The Emergent Layer · Saving the Rainforest. More than half of all the world's animals and plants live in rainforests — even though they cover only a small part of the land.
Ages 7–10
What's inside
The Forest Floor — the dark, busy bottom
Our rainforest journey starts at the very bottom, on the forest floor. High above, a thick roof of leaves blocks out the sun, so down here it's shadowy, warm and wet all year round. It might look empty and quiet, but it's secretly one of the busiest places in the whole forest.
The Understorey — the shadowy middle layer
Climb up from the floor and you reach the understorey, the shady middle floor of the rainforest. Only little scraps of sunlight sneak down through the leaves above, so the plants here grow enormous leaves to catch every bit they can. It's warm, still and full of hidden life.
The Canopy — the green rooftop full of life
Now we reach the busiest place of all: the canopy, the thick green roof formed by the tops of the trees. Up here the sun shines bright and there's food everywhere — fruit, leaves, flowers and insects — so this is where most of the rainforest's animals live their whole lives, high above the ground.
The Emergent Layer — the giant trees that break through
At the very top of our climb, a few enormous trees push up higher than everything else, sticking right out above the green roof into the bright open air. This is the emergent layer — the sunlit, windy world of the rainforest's tallest giants and the animals that rule the sky.
Saving the Rainforest — why these forests matter to us all
We've climbed from the dark floor all the way to the sunlit giants, meeting astonishing animals at every level. But there's one last, important thing to know: these incredible forests are in danger, and they matter far more to us than you might think.
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