Rainforest animals for kids: 19 species to research

Tropical rainforests cover about 6% of Earth's land but hold more than half of its animal species, layered from the dark floor to the sunlit canopy 40 metres up. In the Amazon, jaguars hunt along the rivers, capybaras graze the banks, sloths hang motionless in the trees, and toucans, parrots and hummingbirds work the canopy for fruit and nectar; on the forest floor, poison dart frogs advertise their toxic skin in bright colours and tarantulas ambush from burrows. The rainforests of Africa hold gorillas and chimpanzees, our closest relatives, and Madagascar's forests are home to lemurs and close to half of the world's chameleon species. In Borneo and Sumatra, orangutans spend almost their whole lives in the treetops, and tigers still hunt in the Sumatran forest. Bats pollinate and spread seeds after dark, and snakes hunt in every layer. Clearance for farming and timber is the main threat: orangutans, mountain gorillas and Sumatran tigers are all Critically Endangered.