Tropical rain forests cover only about 7% of the earth but are home to over half of the world's species. Eighty percent of the insects we know about are found in the rain forests. Yet they cover less than one tenth of the world's land surface.
A tropical rain forest is a woodland located near the equator. It has a lush vegetation and great biological diversity. Tropical rain forests are found in the continents of Central America, South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. They are also found in some islands of the Pacific.
					The climate is hot because the sun strikes the tropics directly. The rays of the sun are not slanted.
There are native people who have lived in the rain forests for thousands of years. They have helped the rain forests by knowing how to use the rain forests natural resources in ways that don't endanger the survival of the rain forests or their many different plants and animals.				The humidity in the rain forest ranges between 75% to 100 % all year long.
					Many tropical rain forests receive very heavy rainfall. They receive more than 80 inches of rain each year.
				There are four stories in the rain forest. They are the forest floor, the understory, the canopy, and the emergent layer.
There are two main types of tropical rain forests. They are deteremined by their height above sea level. Lowland rain forests are hot and with high humidity. Montane rain forests, found on hills and mountains, are cooler and often have mists surrounding their upper layers which also gives them the name "cloud forests".					The rain forest is one of the largest ecosystems in the world. It has many food chains and food webs. An herbivore will feast on the many plants of the rain forest. The harpy eagle might eat the herbivore for lunch and the jaguar may have the harpy eagle for lunch.