Adventures in the Rainforest! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Canopy

The emergent layer is where very few trees are. These trees are extremely tall and have surpassed the canopy layer.

The canopy is home to the majority of the biggest trees in the rainforest. The canopy is often compared to an umbrella, because the big trees create an arch over the rainforest.

The understorey is beneath the canopy. This layer is where the smaller trees and shrubs grow.

The forest floor is of course, the soil. This is where a lot of the insects, dispersed seeds and dead plants/animals are.

Answer: Temperate

Temperate rainforests are found in Oceania, North America, Europe and parts of Asia. Tropical rainforests are mostly found in Africa and South America, South East Asia and countries near the equator.

Trees in temperate rainforests usually live longer because the climate is cooler, and there is less decay. Tropical rainforests have a wider variety of fauna and flora. A similarity between the two rainforets is that they receive a lot of rainfall every year.

Answer: 6%

Rainforests used to cover 14% of the Earth's surface. This is because the world's population was smaller, so fewer resources were needed.

In 1996, this 14% fluctuated to a shocking 6%. The population was growing and logging had become more prolific.

Sadly, every second, an area of rainforest the size of a football field is cut down.

Answer: The world's largest pharmacy

Over one quarter of herbal/natural medicines have come from the rainforests. The periwinkle was used to increase the survival chances of children with leukaemia. The trumpet tree is used, mostly in Latin America, to treat respiratory illnesses.

The cocoa tree can also help people with illnesses. Chocolate comes from these trees, and recent study shows that dark chocolate can help reduce blood pressure and lower cholesterol level in adults. However, as we all know, chocolate also has its negative impacts.

Answer: Mayans

Mayans were an ancient civilization that lived in the rainforests of Mesoamerica which is now known as five different countries: Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala,and Belize.

The Mayans are one of the most fascinating civilizations. They practised human sacrificing as an offering to their Gods, and they created very accurate charts which were used to predict eclipses and other astronomical events. Nobody really knows why they disappeared. The fall of this great civilization is still a mystery.

Answer: True

The soil is very poor (especially in a tropical rainforest), because a lot of dead plants and animals decay there, and because it rains too heavily, resulting in a lot of the nutrients washing away.

A lot of forests have been wiped out to create farms and plantations. However, it has never been successful as the soil lacks nutrients, meaning that nothing can thrive there.

Answer: Uncultivated land

Jungle originates from the Sanskrit word, jangala. Although the words jungle and rainforest are used to refer to the same thing, they have a few differences.

One of the differnces is that a jungle receives more sunlight, because it doesn't have thick trees stopping the light from reaching the forest floor.

Sanskrit is one of the 22 scheduled languages in India.

Answer: Kiwi

Kiwis are flightless birds native to New Zealand, where only temperate rainforests exist! The kiwi has brown feathers and a very long beak.

The other animals listed are all found in tropical rainforests. The elephant is found in Asian rainforests, the monkey mostly in Indonesian rainforests and the toucan in South American rainforests.

Answer: True

An ecosystem is a community of living things such as plants and animals that interact with each other and non-living things such as the weather, soil, the air etc. Every part of the ecosystem plays an important part in keeping it alive.

The rainforest is indeed, the world's oldest ecosystem. Experts don't know when it came about, but recent studies shows that it's been around for tens of millions of years. Other ecosystems are deserts, tundras, savannas and taigas.

Answer: Amazon

The Amazon covers 1.4 billion acres, and is home to 20% of the world's birds species. The Amazon is in South America.

The Amazon produces 20% of the oxygen we inhale. It is a very important part of our world, for humans, plants and animals.