at about 75-80degrees Fahrenheit the whole year, the animals dont have to worry about freezing duringthe cold winters or finding hot shade in the summers (Encarta). They rarely have to searchfor water, because rain falls almost every day in tropical rainforests.Some rainforest species have populations that number in the millions. Otherspecies consist of only a few dozen individuals. Living in limited areas, most of thesespecies are found nowhere else on earth. For example, the maues marmoset, a species ofmonkey, wasnt discovered until recently. Its entire tiny population lives within a fewsquare miles in the Amazon rainforest. This species of monkey is so small that it could fitinto a persons hand! (Rain Forest Action Network) In a rainforest, it is difficult to seemany things other than the millions of insects creeping and crawling around in every layerof the forest. Scientists estimate that there are more than 50 million different species ofinvertebrates living in rainforests. A biologist researching the rainforest found 50 differentspeciesof ant on a single tree in Peru! A few hours of crawling in a rainforest wouldproduce several insects unknown to science. The same scientist, Al Gentry, also countingtree and liana species, observed an extravagant 2.5 acres in the Amazon basin rain forestwith an amazing 283 species of trees, larger than 4 inches in diameter. In the same plot,Gentry counted a wopping 580 trees between those characterized above. Globally, all rainforests, no matter how low quality contain an average of 185 species of trees in 2.5acres (Emmons, p2).Compared to the richest woodland areas of the United States, there are only about20 speceies of trees with the same qualities. However, most temperate forests are muchpoorer than this (Emmons, p2). The constant search for food , water, sunlight and space is a 24-hour pushing andshoving match. With this fierce competition, it is amazing that that so many specie...
