African jungle wildlife. Tropical forest animals. Description, names and features of rainforest animals. Reviewing presentation slides
longest neck
At the very beginning of our century, in the jungles of Africa, they found a "living fossil" okapi - relatives of the giraffe, which was considered extinct long ago. Okapi is no bigger than a donkey. And he has a short neck. And it eats, like a giraffe, grass and leaves. The common ancestor of the giraffe and the okapi was similar to a short-necked short man. But over time, some of these animals moved to the open expanses of the savannah, where it was possible to “graze” enough only on the tops of trees. Therefore, animals with a long neck survived. Gradually, the giraffe grew such a long neck that it became completely different from its distant ancestor. And the okapi remained a copy of his great-grandfather.
Gorillas - the largest great apes also live in Africa. The gorilla in the jungle has almost no enemies, except for people, of course. Most of the day, gorillas are on the ground, not in trees like other monkeys. Gorillas are vegetarians. They eat leaves, fruits, tree bark. But in zoos, gorillas very quickly get used to other foods, they begin to eat meat and fish, drink milk.
Cat relatives
Our domestic cat has 37 relatives. These are forest and reed cats, lynxes and manuls, servals and ocelots, snow leopards and leopards, jaguars and cougars, snow leopards, panthers and cheetahs, tigers, lions and other wild cats. Cats are the most dexterous predators. All wild cats hunt in approximately the same way: they sneak up on their prey, then freeze in anticipation. And having chosen a convenient moment, they overtake their victim with one throw. However, our domestic cat hunts mice in the same way as the African leopard hunts antelopes.
Margarita Enyakina
Summary of GCD on the topic:
"Trip to the jungle" in the senior group
Integration of educational areas: Cognitive development, Speech development, Social and communicative development, Physical development
Tasks:
Educational:
1. Form ideas about the jungle as one of the climatic zones of Africa
2. Fix ideas about African animals: monkey, elephant, leopard
3. Arouse interest in further study of the mainland
Developing:
1. Develop logical thinking, memory, ingenuity
2. Develop speech activity, the ability to express and prove your point of view
3. Develop motor skills and abilities
Educational:
1. Cultivate the ability to independently unite and play a variety of games
Methods and techniques:
Visual: presentation, pictures, map
Verbal: story, questions, riddle, logical tasks
Game: Didactic game "Who lives in the jungle?", outdoor games "Monkeys", "Leopards"
Material and equipment:
Multimedia equipment, pictures of animals of Africa and other continents, a map of Africa, two markers and two white sheets for the outdoor game "Leopards", a picture of a suitcase and chips
Logic of educational activity:
Organizing time:
The teacher rings the bell and invites the children:
Here comes my bell
Invites everyone to the circle
1h Introductory
Guys, do you like to travel?
I invite you on a journey to an amazing mainland, and guess which one.
The mainland lies large
Very hot and dry
It's summer all year round
Who will call me? (Africa)
(The teacher hangs up a map of Africa.)
Activity motivation:
Guys, let's take a suitcase of knowledge on our journey. (The teacher hangs a picture of a suitcase) and fill it with knowledge.
2h. Main
What do you think is the most mysterious, mysterious and beautiful climate zone in Africa? (jungle)
Today the jungle will reveal its secrets to you.
Reviewing presentation slides
The jungle is an impenetrable forest. A solid wall of trees, shrubs, grass intertwined with vines of different lengths. Creepers uproot trees, climb up, get mixed up with the foliage of other trees and obscure the sun.
Therefore, below, where the sun's rays do not fall: dampness, twilight, suffocating air, it's hard to breathe. Everything here is disturbing and frightening. Poisonous snakes, insects, predators threaten a person at every turn.
Who do you think is the scariest in the jungle? (children's answers)
It turns out the most terrible - ants. Entire hordes attack travelers. X bites are poisonous.
Do you think it is possible to walk in the jungle? (children's answers)
You can't walk in the jungle like in our forest. Can't get through without an axe. Only the strong and knowledgeable can travel.
Fizminutka
This is a lion - he is the king of beasts
In the world there is no stronger walking in a circle
And funny monkeys
Rocked all the vines tilts to the sides
And here is a kind smart elephant
Sends a bow to everyone bending forward
The leopard jumps so nicely
Like our favorite ball jumps
Zebra head shakes
He invites you to tilt his head forward - backward
Didactic game "Who lives in the jungle?"
Guys, look how many different animals are here. Choose only animals living in the African jungle. (children choose, prove and arrange pictures on an easel)
What animal looks like a human? (monkey)
Logic task:
Can a monkey live in the desert? (no, because the monkey eats leaves, flowers, fruits, tree buds, and they do not grow in the desert)
What does monkey like to do? (climb vines, jump, somersault)
Mobile game "Monkeys"
(Children stand in a circle. They are monkeys. The driver is chosen. The driver shows different movements, and the monkeys repeat after him.)
What is the longest-nosed animal (Elephant)
Why does an elephant need a trunk? (Drinks, eats, pours water on himself, carries loads)
The trunk is a nose that has grown together with the upper lip. At the end of the nose are nostrils and grasping protrusions, like fingers.
Whom the elephant is afraid of (Mice. Mice can get into the trunk at night, gnaw it)
Which animal is the fastest? (Leopard)
What does a leopard look like? (on a cat)
The leopard is a wild cat with a long tail and powerful legs. Leopards live alone. During the day they rest on the branches of trees, and at night they go hunting.
How is leopard fur dyed? (Black spots all over this body)
Mobile game "Leopards"
(Children are divided into two teams. Two leopards are selected. A white sheet of paper is attached to their back. On command. Children run to their leopard and draw spots on it. After the game, the spots are counted. The team that draws more spots will win.)
3h. Final
This is how our journey ended.
It's time to say goodbye to Africa and fill our briefcase with knowledge.
Reflection:
Tell us what new and interesting things you learned today? (Children answer and put chips in the suitcase)
Outcome:
Guys, it was very interesting for me to travel with you.
We will learn a lot more about Africa.
Related publications:
Correction and learning goals: - to enrich vocabulary, develop speech, the ability to coherently and consistently compose a story based on.
Synopsis of GCD on physical development in the younger group "The Jungle is Calling" Synopsis of directly educational activities in the younger group Topic: "Physical development" Title: "The jungle is calling" Age of pupils:.
Approximate basic general education program: Comprehensive program "From birth to school" edited by N. E. Veraksa, T. S. Komarova,.
Purpose: to consolidate the ability to retell a work of art using the modeling method, to teach children to answer in full sentences.
Synopsis of a walk in the middle group "Journey to the autumn forest" Purpose: development of motor activity during a walk; consolidation of children's knowledge about autumn changes in nature, the development of observation,.
jungle animals
Prepared
Grigoryeva S.A.
The name of this animal in Greek means "river horse". It weighs over three tons.
Water is a natural habitat where hippos spend most of their time. However, with such a fat figure, it is not easy to swim, so usually hippos do not go far into the water, but stay in shallow water, where they can reach the bottom with their paws.
Feeling in danger, the hippo emits a menacing roar, and opens its huge mouth as wide as possible, showing the enemy unusually long lower fangs. This menacing posture usually produces the desired result.
He is respected by all other animals who try to avoid meeting him. Newborn rhinoceros weighs about 65 kilograms. It has only one horn and its body is covered with thick leather shields. Horn a rhinoceros can be as long as 1.5 meters. Usually he moves slowly, but if necessary, speeds up to 40 kilometers per hour.
Although in appearance leather his hair is coarse, in fact very sensitive thanks to a cover of short and flexible bristles that respond to even the lightest touch.
Tusks and trunk are two miraculous tools for elephant survival. tusks the elephant defends itself against predators and uses them during drought to dig up the ground in search of water. Very mobile trunk it plucks leaves and scoops up water, which it then puts into its mouth. The elephant loves water very much and at the first opportunity climbs into the pond to freshen up. He's fine swims .
The elephant willingly hides in the shade, because its huge body is hardly cooled. For this purpose serve huge ears, which he fanned rhythmically to cool off.
More often tapirs are eating leaves, shoots and stems of aquatic plants. They love water and are great. swim. They always walk along the same familiar paths, which eventually turn into well-trodden paths, ending, as a rule, in a "gutter" - a convenient descent to the water.
Body the tapir is squat, the legs are short, there is almost no neck. Movable trunk is a very sensitive organ of smell. - with its help, the tapir explores the surface of the earth and surrounding objects. Vision, on the other hand, is very poorly developed.
They are settle down along the banks of rivers and lakes in areas with a warm and hot climate. Crocodiles are much more comfortable and calmer in the water than on land. swim they use paws and tail.
young crocodiles eat mainly fish, but also birds and insects. Only when they become adults will they be able to cope with larger mammals that need to be caught, dragged from the shore and kept under water for a while.
Teeth the crocodile is needed not for chewing food, but only to grab prey and tear off pieces of meat from it.
Chimpanzee excellent climb, they spend a lot of time on the ground and even travel on foot. But are sleeping they are still in the trees, where they feel safer.
These monkeys are practically omnivores. For example, insects, bananas.
live quite numerous societies.
This is a large monkey that spends most of its time among the branches and only occasionally descends to the ground.
Female orangutans, perhaps, more than all other monkeys care about the upbringing of their children. Mothers bite their nails, bathe them in rainwater, yell at them if they start acting up.
It's big, more two meters the growth of the monkey is very friendly; males from the same flock usually do not compete with each other, and for the leader to obey him, it is enough to goggle his eyes and utter the appropriate cry, hitting his chest with his fingers.
Waking up, gorillas go in search of food. The rest of the time they devote rest and games. After the evening meal, a kind of bedding is arranged on the ground, on which fall asleep .
This monkey owes its name to a huge ugly nose, which in males sometimes goes down to the very chin. The proboscis not only climbs trees very well, but also swims very well and can sit under water for a long time.
The pointed muzzle and huge eyes that can see in the dark make this half-monkey very cute. During the day, the lory hides in the branches, and at night it gets its own food.
Sloths so named for the extreme slowness of the movements, reminiscent of the movements in slow motion filming. The constantly wet skin of sloths serves as a breeding ground for microscopic algae, due to which the wool of animals acquires a greenish tint, making them almost invisible among the foliage.
Its height is slightly less two meters, and the mass is about 250 kilograms.
It is known that live they are in the bush, and their coloration, at first glance very unusual, actually makes them completely invisible in their natural habitat. Okapi live alone, and only mothers are not separated from their cubs for a long time.
The giraffe can feed on the leaves of trees that other herbivores cannot reach: thanks to six meters tall he is superior to all other animals. The giraffe can also take food from the ground, as well as drink water, but for this it must spread its front legs wide in order to bend over. In this position, he is very vulnerable to predators, because he cannot immediately rush to flight.
Giraffes live in herds, divided into two groups: in one female with cubs, in the other - males.
The black panther is a dark-colored leopard.
She jumps from branch to branch like a monkey.
I also call her the fishing cat. In fact, she loves to live near the water and swims well. In addition to fish and shellfish, it catches small vertebrates on land. The habits of this animal are little studied.
The "secret weapon" of the cheetah is its flexible body with a strong spine, curved like the arch of a bridge, and powerful clawed paws that allow it to firmly rest on the ground. This is the fastest animal. No one can imagine an animal running faster than a cheetah. In short moments, it develops speeds of over 100 kilometers per hour. The cheetah climbs trees and surveys the area from a height to detect herds of grazing herbivores that could become its prey.
adapt to a variety of climatic conditions; they live in various localities, they are also found in the mountains at an altitude of up to 3000 m and in very cold areas; in the latter case, a thick, more than five centimeters, layer of fat forms under the skin, which protects against heat loss. Almost all jungle dwellers are at risk of becoming tiger prey. Contrary to popular belief, the tiger is not a very dexterous hunter; he is so heavy. That for a successful jump, he needs to start the run from a distance of 10 - 15 meters; if the tiger comes closer to its prey, it runs the risk of missing.
An animal similar to a leopard, but larger; it also differs in a special pattern on the skin: ring-shaped dark spots, inside of which there are smaller specks. Jaguars hunt alone and mostly on the ground, although they are good at crawling through trees and swimming. Having caught the prey, the predator usually hides it somewhere in a secret place and then eats it piece by piece.
The lion prefers open spaces, where he finds coolness in the shade of rare trees. For hunting, it is better to have a wide view in order to notice herds of grazing zebras, buffaloes, antelopes from a distance and develop a strategy for how best to approach them unnoticed. Outwardly, this is a lazy beast, which, on duty, dozes and does nothing. Only when the lion is hungry and forced to pursue herds of herbivores, or when he must defend his territory, does he come out of his stupor.
A characteristic feature of the lion is the thick mane of males. The claws of a lion can reach 7 cm.
The skin of a zebra is original and easily recognizable. At first glance, all zebras seem the same, but in fact, each animal has its own stripe pattern, like human fingerprints.
Zebras are deprived of horns and other means of protection, fleeing from predators. Once in the environment, they defend themselves with their teeth and blows of hooves.
A pursued zebra can run at a speed of 80 kilometers per hour, but not for a long time.
The mass of an ostrich exceeds 130 kilograms. The long neck increases the growth of the ostrich up to two meters. A flexible neck and excellent eyesight allow him to notice danger from afar from this height. Long legs give the ostrich the ability to run at speeds up to 70 kilometers per hour. The ostrich prefers open spaces where everything can be seen from afar and there are no obstacles for running.
The beak of an ostrich short, flat and very strong. It is not specialized for any particular food, but serves to pluck grass and other vegetation and grab the insects, small mammals, and snakes it feeds on.
This bird cannot be confused with any other because of the huge motley beak, which toucans sometimes longer than the whole body. Toucans nest in the recesses of tree poles, but often they occupy hollows left by woodpecker families.
This tiny bird (size from 5.7 to 21.6 cm; weight from 1.6 to 20 grams) with a long curved beak is able to flap its wings so often that it manages to hang almost motionless in the air, sucking nectar from a flower. It is the only bird in the world that can fly backwards.
You can spend the whole day in the untouched jungle and not see a single animal larger than a mouse. There are really few of them here. Especially few big ones.
By weight, animals make up only 0.02 percent of the total forest biomass. This is 2-3 times less than the similar ratio for the entire total biomass of the Earth. In absolute terms, about 200 kilograms per hectare, and at least a third of the rainforest animals (again by weight) live in the soil and litter.
But you need to keep in mind that hiding in the jungle is not at all difficult. There are so many suitable shelters for this! In addition, many animals lead a twilight or nocturnal lifestyle, showing their activity only in pitch darkness.
The story of the okapi testifies to how difficult it is to see the inhabitants of the jungle. This huge beast, the closest relative of giraffes, with almost the same long legs and neck, which was well known to the natives of the virgin forest, skillfully hid from the eyes of Europeans until 1901. Only thanks to the efforts of the pygmies, hurt to the quick by distrust of their stories about the amazing inhabitant of the thicket, the Royal Zoological Society in London received the skin and two skulls of the mysterious invisible man. However, in the next 80 years, only a few jungle explorers were lucky enough to see okapi in the wild.
The life of any forest animal is necessarily connected with a tree. This connection is especially noticeable in the jungle. Almost all of their inhabitants live on trees - on trunks and in crowns, in extreme cases they huddle near the roots in the forest floor and in the soil, but few build burrows on their own or use them constantly. Among land animals, only a few are not able to climb trees. Tropical wilds are the domain of the most skilled climbers.
Large terrestrial animals, unable to climb to the upper floors, face two important problems: how to move in the chaos of thickets and what to eat here. Large creatures need significant amounts of food, and there is not much on the ground floor.
The problem of movement is even more difficult. Of the large animals, the live bulldozer, a huge forest elephant, is best adapted to life in the impenetrable jungle. Crushing everything in its path, a herd of giants is able to break through any thickets, maneuvering among huge trunks, which also serve as an insurmountable obstacle for them.
However, even elephants gravitate towards forest edges, clearings, grassy, regularly flooded meadow lowlands near the banks of forest rivers and streams. Like other inhabitants of the jungle, they need sunbathing, especially baby elephants, otherwise they may develop rickets.
There are few ungulates in the rain forests. There are no animals here crowned with such spreading horns as our European red deer and elk. With such an ornament on your head, you will not make your way through the thicket. Mazama, or pointed deer, living in Central and South America, wear small straight horns on their heads. The American pudú's horns are so small that they do not protrude from the thick coat. The deer themselves are also small. The growth of various types of mazam varies from a large hare to a small fallow deer. The common pudu is a dwarf, 30-35 centimeters high and weighing 7-10 kilograms.
Of the 14 species of African crested duikers, peculiar forest antelopes, 12 prefer to live in tropical rainforests. Their slightly curved back horns only slightly rise above the high crest of thick wool growing between them. A baby antelope has horns no more than 10 centimeters, and a very miniature dwarf antelope, barely reaching a quarter meter at the withers, has very tiny horns - only 1.5-2 centimeters.
Among the few exceptions are markhorned antelopes. In bushbucks, helically twisted horns can reach a length of 55 centimeters, and in larger bongos - a meter. But they are directed back and do not interfere with wading through the thickets. Moreover, on the run, antelopes throw their heads back. How often bongos have to do this is evidenced by the bald patches on the back, behind the shoulder blades, rubbed with horns.
Most ungulates of the dense rainforest are pygmies compared to their relatives from other areas of the planet. The jungle is characterized by deer and antelopes the size of a small dog. Small kanchil, a resident of the island jungles of Sumatra, Kalimantan and Java, is as tall as a rabbit and runs on thin, pencil-like legs, and weighs 2-2.5 kilograms. He is nocturnal and seems timid and defenseless. At the slightest danger, the deer dissolves in dense thickets, but if a predator overtakes it, it bites desperately, inflicting serious wounds on the enemy. Dwarfism is an adaptation to dense thickets. It is characteristic of bulls, bears and other animals.
The red subspecies of the African buffalo, which lives in the jungle, will pass for the calf of its huge black counterpart living in the savannah. The height of the baby is 100-130 centimeters, and it weighs four times less. Even smaller is the anoa dwarf buffalo from the forests of Sulawesi. His height is 60-100 centimeters. These gobies have short, backward-curving horns, while in the black African buffalo they form an intricate figure eight on the head of the animal, and the distance between their tips can reach a meter. The same conditions of existence caused unidirectional adaptations: they were similarly reflected in the external appearance of most jungle ungulates and required their miniaturization, which affected not only the body, but also the horns.
The same applies to bears. If we compare the size of the animals that live on open plains and in various forests, it is easy to see that they gradually become smaller as the forests become denser. The polar white bear weighs up to a ton. Almost as large is the subspecies of the brown land bear from Kodiak Island, off the coast of Alaska. In the forests of our country, brown bears rarely reach a weight of 750 kilograms, more often they are much smaller. The Himalayan bear, more closely related to the tree, is never heavier than 140-150 kilograms. The North American baribal, South Asian sloth and South American spectacled bears are slightly smaller. And the smallest Malay bear, or biruang, is just a baby, weighing up to 65 kilograms! It lives in tropical rainforests and spends most of the day in the trees. It sleeps or feeds on leaves, fruits and all living creatures.
Among the ungulates of the tropical rainforest, tapirs are the most peculiar. These large creatures weighing up to 300 kilograms resemble pigs in their appearance, ideally adapted for life in the thickets. They have relatively short legs and an elongated body, so that the animals at the withers do not exceed 1 meter. The elongated muzzle and narrow-browed head allow tapirs to easily fit into any spaces between branches. A torpedo-shaped torso with a narrow shoulder girdle, slightly widening towards the pelvic region, which is dressed in thick skin covered with short, smooth hair, allows it to squeeze through the thicket. Like elephants, tapirs gravitate to open glades, mainly to the banks of water bodies. Animals love to spend hot time in the water. On the territory occupied by tapirs, a system of paths and manholes is created, which animals use daily. However, if the owner of the site is attacked by a jaguar, the only predator dangerous to an adult animal, the tapir turns off the well-found path and dives into the thicket. Here the peace-loving beast gets some advantages, and this often saves his life.
It is much more difficult to live in the okapi jungle. The younger brother of the long-necked giraffe is unable to dissolve in the thickets, like tapirs and small deer. Okapi are extremely attached to thickets, and they prefer not to use wide lanes and open glades. To pave the way in the wilds, they have only one device - a massive chest, slightly hanging over their front legs. This allows the animal to bring down the entire weight of its body on the obstacle, and the head raised high and pushed forward makes it possible to look behind the obstacle and assess how it can be overcome.
Pigs are well adapted to life in the jungle. In the mountain forests of Africa, a large forest pig lives, discovered only in 1904. This is the largest representative of the pig family. Bush-eared or river pigs are more widespread - large beautiful animals of bright yellow color, with a white mane-strap on the back, with white sideburns and tassels on the ears. Unlike most forest ungulates, bush pigs live in herds, sometimes up to 100 heads, but are so wary that it is difficult to meet them in the jungle.
The bearded pig, so named for the abundant thickets of light bristles covering its muzzle, lives in the jungles of the Malay Peninsula, Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan and the small islands of the Indian Ocean. It is the size of a European boar and also lives in families and herds. On the island of Sulawesi, the babirussa lives, an almost hairless pig of medium size, with two pairs of large fangs, bent back and intended only for decoration. The lower pair takes its place between the teeth of the lower jaw. The upper one does not grow from the mouth, but sticks out right on the muzzle. In old males, their tips almost reach the forehead or bend 180 degrees and grow back into the skin of the snout. In the shape of the upper fangs, there is a clear analogy with the horns of forest ungulates.
The body shape and mass of large pigs and tapirs proved to be successful for life in the jungle. With such dimensions, they still do not get stuck in the weaves of vines, and their solid weight allows them to break through the thickets.
The dimensions of the pygmy hippopotamus are approximately the same. Pygmy again! Its height at the withers does not exceed 80 centimeters. It is the size of a large pig, and weighs 10 times lighter than its large relative. The "baby" lives in the tropical forests of the Niger Delta. Adapting to life in the wilds, he not only changed his dimensions, but borrowed the most typical forms of behavior from the indigenous inhabitants of the forest. Animals do not gather in herds, but live alone or in pairs, are less connected with water and trample paths in coastal bushes.
Most tree rodents in the process of adaptation, like other mammals of the jungle, turned into pygmies. Let's take protein as an example. In the mountainous jungles of Panama, spread out on the slopes of the Chiriqui volcano, live bright red pygmy squirrels about 15 centimeters in size. Midge squirrels with a body length of 10-11 live in the thickets of the Amazon basin, and in South Asia, Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan and other Indo-Pacific islands, crumb squirrels are only 7–10 centimeters tall.
Some terrestrial rodents adapted to the wilds by increasing their size. It is in the tropical rainforests that the largest representatives of this order live. There are very few of them. The largest is the capybara, or capybara. Outwardly, the animals are an exact copy of guinea pigs, enlarged 10 times. Males reach 1.5 meters in length and weigh 60-70 kilograms. The body is covered with long dense brown bristles, which protect the skin well from numerous spines.
Capybaras do not like hermitage, are very sociable and live in groups, sometimes quite large. On the paws, between the fingers, the capybara has swimming membranes, so it, like tapirs, swims and dives. It is not surprising that capybaras settle along the banks of rivers and other bodies of water. Most of all, capybaras like areas of the coastline covered with tall grass, which they feed on.
Two other giant rodents - paka and agouti - outwardly resemble large rabbits, only their ears are short. They are much smaller than the capybara, but they are similar to the habits of the pi, swim well, and the paca can even dive. In case of danger, the animals rush to the water and plop down there with a terrible noise, which for the rest of the group serves as a signal of extreme danger.
These are the requirements in the jungle for the shape and size of animals that cannot climb trees. It is not advantageous to be neither too big nor too small. For life in the wilds, the golden mean is good. Apparently, the size of the body in the range from agouti (up to 50 centimeters long) to capybaras and large pigs does not yet impose serious restrictions on movement in the dense thickets of the rainforest, but sharply reduces the number of natural enemies. After all, there are few large predators here, so capybaras, pigs and tapirs have almost no enemies. This is where dwarfism among traditionally large animals and gigantism in small fry arose.
Occupying only 6% of the land, the jungle is home to 50% of the species of living beings. Many of them are archaic, ancient. The constant heat and humidity of the jungle have allowed them to survive to this day.
The crowns of the tropics are so tightly closed that the hornbills, turacos and toucans that live here have almost forgotten how to fly. But they are excellent at jumping and climbing branches. It is easy to get lost in the intricacies of trunks and roots. Only one expedition in 2007 to the island of Borneo gave the world 123 previously unknown tropical animals.
Inhabitants of the forest floor
Litter is called the lower tier of the tropics. There are fallen leaves and branches. The overgrowth blocks the light. Therefore, only 2% of the total amount of sunlight illuminates the litter. This limits the vegetation. Only shade-tolerant representatives of the flora survive in the litter. Some plants reach for the light, climbing tree trunks like vines.
There are such creepers among animal bedding. Many of them are large and with long necks. This allows, so to speak, to come out of the shadows. The rest of the inhabitants of the lower tier of the tropics do not need lighting, but depend only on heat. We are talking about snakes, frogs, insects and inhabitants of the soil.
Tapir
Looks like a pig with a long trunk. In fact, the tapir is a relative of rhinos and horses. Together with the trunk, the length of the body of the animal is about 2 meters. Tapirs weigh about 3 centners, are found in Asia and.
Leading a nocturnal lifestyle, pig-like creatures disguised themselves. Black and white coloration makes tapirs invisible in the dark jungle floor, illuminated by the moon.
Animals that live in the rainforest got a long nose in order to hide from the heat and predators under water. When diving, tapirs leave the tip of the "trunk" on the surface. It serves as a breathing tube.
Tapir is a primitive animal that looks today as it did a thousand years ago, which is rare for animals.
Cuban flint tooth
It was declared extinct at the beginning of the 20th century. At the beginning of the 21st century, the animal was found again. The insectivore is a relict species. Outwardly, its representatives are something between a hedgehog, a rat and a shrew.
Living in the mountain tropics of Cuba, the sand tooth is the largest of the insectivores. The body length of the animal is 35 centimeters. The shaletooth weighs about a kilogram.
Cassowary
These are flightless birds. Awarded the most dangerous on earth. In from the powerful paws and clawed wings of cassowaries, 1-2 people die annually. How can feathered wings be clawed?
The fact is that the flying "devices" of the cassowaries have been transformed into such rudiments. On their central finger is a sharp claw. Its size and strength are frightening, given the bird's 500-kilogram weight and 2-meter height.
On the head of the cassowary there is a dense leathery outgrowth. Its purpose is not clear to scientists. Outwardly, the outgrowth resembles a helmet. There is an assumption that he breaks the branches when the bird runs in the thick of the tropics.
The cassowary is an extremely irritable bird, goes into a rage for no apparent reason, attacking people
Okapi
Found in the tropics. In the appearance of the animal, the signs of a giraffe and a zebra are combined. The body structure and coloration are borrowed from the latter. Black and white stripes adorn the legs of the okapi. The rest of the body is brown. Head and neck like those of a giraffe. According to the genome, it is his relative that the okapi is. Otherwise, representatives of the species are called forest giraffes.
The okapi's neck is shorter than that of savannah giraffes. But the animal has a long tongue. It is elongated by 35 centimeters, bluish in color. The organ allows the okapi to reach the foliage and clean the eyes and ears.
western gorilla
Among primates, it is the largest, lives in the jungles of the center of Africa. The DNA of an animal is almost 96% identical to that of a human. This applies to both lowland and mountain gorillas. The latter live in the tropics. They are few in number. Less than 700 individuals remain in nature.
There are about 100,000 lowland gorillas. Another 4,000 are kept in zoos. There are no mountain gorillas in captivity.
Knowing how to walk on their hind legs, gorillas prefer to move on 4 at the same time. In this case, the animals put their hands sideways, leaning on the back of their fingers. Monkeys need to keep the skin of their palms thin and delicate. This is necessary for the proper sensitivity of the brushes, subtle manipulations with them.
Sumatran rhinoceros
He is the smallest among them. There are few large animals in the jungle. Firstly, it is easier for small creatures to make their way through the thickets. Secondly, the diversity of tropical species should fit into fertile, but small areas.
Among the rhinos, the Sumatran is also the most ancient and rare. Animal life in the rainforest limited to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Here the rhinoceroses reach one and a half meters in height and 2.5 in length. One individual weighs about 1300 kilograms.
The rhinoceros picks up berries and fruits that have fallen from sloppy birds
undergrowth animals
The undergrowth is just above the litter, already receives 5% of the sun's rays. In order to capture them, plants grow wide leaf plates. Their area allows you to capture the maximum light. In height, representatives of the flora of the undergrowth do not exceed 3 meters. Accordingly, the tier itself is the same minus half a meter from the ground.
They fall on the floor. rainforest animals in the undergrowth are often medium-sized, sometimes medium-sized. The tier is inhabited by mammals, reptiles, and birds.
Jaguar
Lives in the tropics of America. The weight of the animal is 80-130 kilograms. It is the largest cat in America. The color of each individual is unique, like human fingerprints. Spots on the skins of predators are compared with them.
Jaguars are excellent swimmers. On water, cats prefer to move by clinging to logs. On land, jaguars are also associated with trees. On them, cats drag their prey, hiding it in the branches from other contenders for meat.
The jaguar is the third largest big cat after lions and tigers.
Binturong
Belongs to the civet family. Outwardly, the binturong is something between a cat and a raccoon. The relatives of the animal are genets and lisangs. Like them, the binturong is a predator. However, the touching appearance, as it were, discards the fear of the animal.
Binturong lives in the tropics of Asia. Most of all the Indian population. When dividing territories, binturongs mark their possessions with a liquid that smells like popcorn.
South American nosoha
Represents raccoons. The animal has a long and mobile nose. He, like the head of the beast, is narrow. The name of the species is associated with the nose as a distinguishing feature. You can meet its representatives in the tropics of South America.
There, noses, like jaguars, climb trees perfectly. The noses have short, but flexible and mobile paws with tenacious claws. The structure of the limbs allows animals to descend from trees both forward backwards and muzzle.
Nosuha climbs trees for fruit and hiding from danger. In her absence, the beast is not averse to walking on the jungle floor. By digging with its clawed paws, nosuha finds reptiles and insects. Being omnivorous, the animal preys on them.
dart frog
Among the existing reptiles, poison dart frogs are the brightest. On the photo rainforest animals distinguished by coloring in tones of indigo. There are also turquoise and blue-black colors. It is not without reason that they distinguish the frog from the background of the surrounding nature, like a tropical bud.
A dart frog has no need to disguise itself. Among reptiles, the animal produces the most powerful poison. The frog is not touched, even when seen in front of one's nose. More often, predators and people bounce off the blue beauty, fearing poison. One frog shot is enough to kill 10 people. There is no antidote.
The venom of the poison dart frog contains 100 substances of non-protein nature. It is believed that the frog gets them by processing the tropical ants that it feeds on. When dart frogs are kept in captivity on other food, they become harmless, non-poisonous.
The singing of poison dart frogs does not at all resemble the usual croaking, but rather resembles the sounds made by a cricket.
common boa constrictor
Similar to a python, but slimmer. The boa constrictor also does not have a supraorbital bone. Finding out what animals live in the rainforest, it is important to "discard" the Argentine boa constrictor. He settles in arid and desert places. Other subspecies live in the tropics.
Some hunt in the water. In America, where rivers and lakes are occupied by anacondas, boas feed on the ground and trees.
An ordinary boa constrictor in the tropics often replaces a cat. The inhabitants of the jungle settlements lure snakes, allowing them to live in barns and warehouses. There boas catch mice. Therefore, the snake is considered partially domesticated.
flying dragon
This is a lizard with skin outgrowths on the sides. They open when the animal jumps from the tree like wings. They are not attached to the paws. Moveable, rigid ribs plow open the folds.
A flying dragon descends into the jungle floor only to lay eggs. They are usually from 1 to 4 ex. Lizards bury their eggs in fallen leaves or soil.
The dragon can dive for long distances while landing silently
Rainforest canopy dwellers
A tropical canopy is otherwise called a canopy. It is made up of tall, broad-leaved trees. Their crowns form a kind of roof over the litter and undergrowth. The height of the canopy is 35-40 meters. Many birds and arthropods hide in the crowns of trees. The last in the canopy of the tropics are 20 million species. There are fewer reptiles, invertebrates and mammals at altitude.
kinkajou
Represents the raccoon family. Lives kinkazhu in America. In the tropics, the animal settles in the crowns of trees. On their branches, the kinkajou moves, clinging to the long tail.
Despite the small similarity and lack of relationship with clubfoot, animals are called tree bears. It's a matter of diet. Kinkajou loves honey. His animal extracts with the help of the tongue. In length, it reaches 13 centimeters, allowing you to climb into the hive.
Kinkajous are easily tamed, very affable and are often kept at home.
Malayan bear
Among the bears, he is the only one who almost never descends to the ground, lives in trees. The Malayan clubfoot is also the smallest in its squadron. The fur of the bear is shorter than that of other Potapyches. Otherwise, representatives of the Malay species would not be able to live in the tropics of Asia.
Among bears, the Malay clubfoot has the longest tongue. It reaches 25 centimeters. The claws of the animal are also the longest. How else to climb trees?
Jaco
One of the smartest parrots. Like a real intellectual, Zhako is modestly “dressed”. The plumage of the bird is grey. Only on the tail there are red feathers. Their shade is not flashy, but rather cherry. You can see birds in the jungle Africa. rainforest animals Continents are successfully kept in captivity and often become news heroes.
So, a Jaco nicknamed Baby from the USA remembered the names of the robbers who entered his owner's apartment. Birds gave out the data of the thieves to the police.
Jaco is listed in the Guinness Book of Records, knowing about 500 words in different languages. The bird spoke in connected sentences.
coata
Otherwise known as the spider monkey. The animal has a tiny head, a massive body against its background, and long, thin limbs. When the koata stretches them between the branches, it seems like a spider waiting for prey. The black, shiny coat of the animal is also confusing, like fluff on the bodies of arthropods.
The koata lives in South and Central America. With a 60-centimeter long monkey's body, the length of its tail is 90 centimeters.
Koats very rarely descend to the ground, sometimes spider monkeys fall and get injured that heal quickly
rainbow toucan
Large bird up to 53 cm long. With a massive and long beak, the toucan reaches the fruits on thin branches. Sit on them a bird, the shoots will not stand. The toucan weighs about 400 grams. The beak of the animal is painted in green, blue, orange, yellow, red.
The body is mostly black, but there is an extensive lemon-colored patch on the head with a red scarlet edging around the neck. Even the irises of the toucan's eyes are colored, turquoise. It becomes clear why the species is called iridescent.
The colorful appearance of the toucan is combined with the fruity variety of the tropics. However, the bird can also feast on protein food, catching insects, tree frogs. Sometimes toucans feed on the chicks of other birds.
Golden Helmet Kalao
The largest among the birds of the tropics. The bird weighs approximately 2 kilograms. The animal is named gold-helmeted due to the feathers sticking out on its head. They are, as it were, raised, forming a kind of armor from the times of the Roman Empire. The color of the feathers is golden.
There is a patch of bare skin on the neck of the kalao. It is slightly saggy and wrinkled, like a vulture or a turkey. Kalao is also distinguished by a massive beak. No wonder the bird belongs to the family of hornbills.
With long beaks, it is convenient for birds to collect fruits from branchy trees.
three-toed sloth
What animals are in the rainforest the slowest? The answer is obvious. On land, sloths move at a maximum speed of 16 meters per hour. Most of the time the animals spend on the branches of African jungle trees. There the sloths hang upside down. Most of the time the animals sleep, and the rest is slowly chewing on the leaves.
Sloths not only feed on vegetation, but are also covered in it. Animal fur is covered with microscopic algae. Therefore, the color of sloths is greenish. Algae are water plants. From there, the sloths took the "tenants".
Slow mammals are good swimmers. During the rainy season, sloths have to be melted down from tree to tree.
Upper tier of the tropics
Tropical rainforest animals the upper tier live at a height of 45-55 meters. At this mark, there are single crowns of especially tall trees. Other trunks do not aspire higher, because they are not adapted to stand alone in front of the winds and the heat of the sun.
Some birds, mammals, and bats also fight them. The choice is determined either by the proximity of the food supply, or by the presence of an overview of the terrain, or by moving to a safe distance from predators and dangers.
crowned eagle
Among the birds of prey, it is the largest. The body length of the animal exceeds a meter. The wingspan of a crowned eagle is more than 200 centimeters. A distinctive feature of the species is the crest on the head. In moments of danger or fighting spirit, the feathers rise, forming a kind of crown, crown.
The crowned eagle lives in the jungles of Africa. You rarely see birds alone. Crowned birds live in pairs. Even their possessions animals fly around together. "Put on" the eagles, by the way, is about 16 square kilometers.
Giant flying fox
The muzzle of this bat is similar to a fox. Hence the name of the animal. His fur, by the way, is reddish, which also reminds of foxes. Soaring in the sky, the flyer opens its wings by 170 centimeters. The giant fox weighs over a kilogram.
There are giant flying foxes in Asian countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. Bats live in flocks. Flying 50-100 individuals, foxes terrify tourists.
royal colobus
Belongs to the monkey family. It differs from other colobuses by white markings on the chest, tail, and cheeks. The monkey lives in the jungles of Africa, growing up to 60-70 centimeters in length, excluding the tail. He is 80 cm.
Colobus rarely descend to the ground. Monkeys spend most of their lives on the tops of trees, where they feed on fruits.
Fauna of the rainforest- this is a fierce competition not only for space, light, but also food. Therefore, it is in the jungle that there are species that dine on what the inhabitants of other places do not even consider food.
How about eucalyptus leaves, for example? They contain a minimum of nutrients, and there are enough poisons, and only koalas have learned to neutralize them. So the animals of the species have provided themselves with an abundance of food, for which one does not have to fight.