Tropical forest animals. Amazing rainforest animals Who live in tropical rainforests

None of the Earth's land ecosystems plays such an important role as rainforests. From 50 to 75 percent of all species of the planet's fauna live in these territories, and millions more animals remain undiscovered. Due to the astonishing biodiversity in these habitats, they have become home to several interesting creatures nature.

Jaguar

Jaguars are a real thunderstorm in the rainforests of Central and South America, as they represent the top predators in their family. These are the largest feline of those that inhabit the Americas, and the third largest in the world after tigers and lions. While most cats are known to dislike water, jaguars, like tigers, are an exception. They are perfectly adapted to living in rainforests and feel no worse in the water than on land.

Okapi

This creature resembles a cross between a zebra and an antelope, and is sometimes even mistaken for a unicorn. But the okapi, which has such a unique appearance, is not one of the above creatures. Their closest relatives are giraffes.
These cute and graceful animals live in the rainforests of Central Africa. They spend most pastures, eating leaves, buds, grass, ferns and fruits with an unusually long, mobile and sticky tongue. This organ is so dexterous that the animal is able to lick its eyelids, as well as to wash its large ears inside and out.

Amazon river dolphin

The Amazonian river dolphin is one of the five living species of river dolphins on the planet, and also the largest of them. These creatures live in the murky waters of the Amazon and Orinoco basins in South America and are often seen among the trees of the flooded forests. In addition, these dolphins are often called pink, as their skin has a pinkish tint in random places.

glass frog

You are not looking at an x-ray now. The skin of these amazing transparent frogs, which can be seen in the rain forests of Central and South America, is so translucent that you can see the organs through it. It is believed that there are more than 150 species of this amazing family of amphibians in the world.

Cassowary

Native to the rainforests of New Guinea and Northeast Australia, these colorful flightless birds look like brightly colored ostriches wearing blade-like hats. They are the third largest birds in the world (after ostriches and emus), and unlike many species of birds, females, rather than males, tend to show brighter plumage.

Igrunka

These little monkeys from the rainforests of South America can be considered the most glorious primates in existence. In fact, these are the smallest monkeys in the world. About 22 species are known to exist, and each one exhibits extravagant variations in fluffy attire. Interestingly, they almost always give birth to twins.

Malayan bear

The Malayan bear is the smallest bear species in the world. It inhabits the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia. It is one of only two bear species that have adapted to life in the jungle (the other being the South American spectacled bear), and the only species that lives almost exclusively in trees. This creation features a distinctive orange U-shaped collar on the chest.

Anaconda

The anaconda, which lives in the rainforests and floodplains of South America, is the largest, heaviest and second longest snake in the world. This species has earned a secure place in second-rate horror films. Although not venomous, the anaconda is capable of killing an adult male by squeezing, although such attacks are extremely rare. In part, the achievement of such enormous dimensions is facilitated by semi-aquatic image life, and this snake is known to be an excellent swimmer.

Siamang

Siamangs are black-furred monkeys native to the forests of Southeast Asia, in fact they are the largest gibbon species in the world. They are distinguished by a spherical throat pouch which they use to make loud calls. These sounds are unmistakable from anything else in the dense jungle, and are meant to mark territorial boundaries between rival groups.

fringed turtle

Probably, it is unlikely that in the world you can find a species of turtles with a more strange appearance. Fringed turtles can be seen in the rainforests of the Amazon and Orinoco basins, they lead a sedentary lifestyle and are characterized by a triangular flattened head and shell. Skin patches hang freely from the neck and head of these reptiles, somewhat reminiscent of wet leaves. In fact, the strange shape of the fringed turtle's shell resembles a piece of tree bark from a distance, which provides the reptile with excellent camouflage.

Tropical rainforests cover less than 6 percent of the Earth's surface and scientists estimate that at least half of the world's animal species live there. In fact, there are many millions of species of tropical mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and insects that scientists have been unable to count. Thousands of species of insects have not yet been discovered. Thus, it will undoubtedly take many decades for science to fully answer the question "what animals live in tropical forests.»

photo: Dave Rushen

Of course, science is already familiar with large quantity tropical animals and birds. Tropical forests are covered with dense, tall trees near the Earth's equator, which receive 2000 mm of precipitation per year. Which animals live in rainforests depends on where the rainforests are located, in Central America or northern South America, in equatorial Africa, in South Asia down through the islands of the South Pacific to northern Australia.

photo: Martien Uiterweerd

The animals of the various rainforests around the world have evolved thousands of miles apart and therefore differ from continent to continent and even from forest to forest. However, all rainforests are similar in many ways, many of the animal species in them are also similar. For example, all rainforests offer a breathtaking array of bird species, as well as birds from the wettest rainforests including parrots.

photo: Nick Johnson

In the countries of Central and South America, the large macaw familiar to us lives; The African rainforests are home to the African Gray Parrot, which is famous for its ability to imitate sounds, including human speech. Cockatoos and a few Australian parrots live in Asia, the South Pacific and the Australian forests.

photo:Debbie Grant

What animals live in tropical forests? Mostly big cats acting as top predators. In the tropical forests of Central and South America, where the ecological niche is occupied by jaguars and cougars. African rainforests are run by leopards. In the South Asian rainforests, tigers and leopards are the top predators.

photo: Thomas Widmann

The rainforests are home to a number of primate species: spider monkeys and howler monkeys in Central and South America. Baboons, chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas in Africa. Gibbons and orangutans in South Asia.

photo: Pierson Hill

From the reptile rainforests, the pythons of Africa and Asia are counterparts of the anaconda in the Amazon jungle. Venomous snakes abound in all rainforests, bushmaster and coral snakes in South and Central America and cobras in Africa and Asia, from alligators and caimans in the Americas to many species of crocodiles in Africa and Asia.

List of tropical animals in the Amazon:

Jaguars, Pumas, Ocelots, tapirs, capybaras, bushmasters and caimans (several species; the largest being the black caiman), harpies, macaws, spider monkeys, howler monkeys, capuchins, squirrel monkeys, piranhas, leaf cutters.

photo: Jon Mountjoy

List of tropical animals of Africa:

leopard, okapi, Nile crocodile, mambas (several types of poisonous snakes), gray parrot, crowned eagle, chimpanzee, bonobos, gorilla, mandrills, baboons, colobus, tiger fish, termites.

List of tropical animals of Asia:

Tiger, Leopard, Lazy Bear, Sumatran Rhinoceros, Elephant, Buffalo, Cockatoo, Black Eagle, saltwater crocodile, Burmese python, cobras (several species), Orangutan, Gibbons, macaques.

photo: Stephen Hampshire

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

Wet Belt tropical forests in Africa stretches for almost 5 thousand kilometers from west to east and about 1600 from north to south. The Cameroon Highlands, a mountain range of volcanic origin, separates the Guinean rainforest from the large forests of Zaire and Gabon. Both parts of the forest are not very different from each other: the entire territory is occupied by dense evergreen tropical vegetation. Once upon a time in ancient times, the rainforest extended much further east, north, and south, stepping across the East African Rift Valley into East Africa, and in some places even reached the coast. It is possible that such forests covered the entire South Sudan to the Ethiopian highlands and rose much higher along the mountain slopes than today.

Every year, fires approach the rainforest. The natural boundary between forest and savannah is a strip of thicket no wider than eight to ten meters, sufficient to protect the rainforest. Such vegetation usually dies from fire, and then it is restored again. The outer side of the strip facing the savannah - small shrubs and thick grass - delays the fire. The thicker shrubs and small trees behind them are usually no longer in contact with the fire, they are so tall that the shade from them prevents the growth of grass that could help spread the fire. They are followed by even taller trees, and only then does the real rainforest begin.

If there were no external interventions, the natural boundary between tropical forest and the savannah would roam in one direction or the other, depending on climate change. It represents a clear dividing line between two forms of life: on the one hand, a forest with tall, constantly green trees, at their bases there is a dense shrub, but almost nowhere grass; on the other, a densely grassy savannah with small trees ten times smaller than those of the tropical forest. On the one hand, a sea of ​​sunlight, open spaces overgrown with grass and rare trees, on the other hand, a dense, shady, moist forest where the sun does not penetrate. The contrast is unimaginable.

Where the rainforest borders the savannah, where the soil is more favorable for the growth of large trees, or numerous forest islands form along the rivers. This type of terrain, called a rainforest-savanna mosaic, is a favorite habitat for wildlife. Forest animals often graze in the savannah, but of the savannah animals, only waterbucks dare to enter the forest. On the border of savannas and tropical forests, in places where man has not yet penetrated, the natural balance is preserved. Currently, the rainforests are being destroyed by humans. Forest patches, especially in the mosaic area, are disappearing so fast that it is alarming. When the tropical forest is cut down, after 10 years, the so-called secondary savannah appears in its place; if it were protected from fires and people did not destroy it, in time it could again become a rainforest. The forest grows very slowly, because a protective zone of shrubs must first form. Grass grows much faster, so the savanna usually becomes the "aggressor" and the forest the victim, and little by little it recedes.

The rainforest looks very different from the temperate forests we know. It is always shaded, the temperature is constant, the soil is moist, and these are ideal conditions for rapid growth trees. There are dead leaves on the ground, dead plants, roots, moss and fern here and there, but everything rots at an incredible rate, so that the layer of humus is never as thick as in temperate deciduous forests. Everything that falls from trees and is edible is quickly destroyed by various animals, fungi and bacteria. Impenetrable thickets stand as a wall, and twisted trees make it difficult to see, between which there is a fern and a huge amount of moss, lianas hanging from the trees like a dense curtain. At eye level there is a lush deciduous shrub, and if a person wants to see what is happening behind him, he will have to bend down. Only in exceptional cases in the rainforest can you see more than 50 steps. Trees of the lower tier 15-30 meters high rise above the bush. They provide food for birds and other animals. The crowns of the trees of the lower tier are sometimes woven so densely that the canopy above them from the crowns of tall trees is not even visible.

The rainforest is a set of forest tiers. The crowns of tropical forest giant trees rise high above the lower tier, sometimes by 30-40 meters. Even in the dense interweaving of the branches of these huge trees, fertile soil is “suspended”, on which other plants grow. Tropical rainforests are very difficult to explore and I would not recommend anyone to go there alone. It often happens that a person, although he is familiar with the rainforest, loses his bearings and after a hundred steps he can get lost. In such forests it is always twilight, humid, calm, the air is heavy. You can hear the wind whistling in the crowns of tall trees, but below it is not felt at all. The silence is broken only by the cry of invisible birds, the crackling of a falling branch, the shrill voice of a monkey or the buzzing of insects. A person tries to step inaudibly, he experiences fear and horror.

Tropical rainforests differ from temperate forests in a huge variety of vegetation. In them, two neighboring trees rarely belong to the same species, but at the same time one can see large areas dominated by only two or three tree species. Among the huge trees of the upper tier, haya and entandrophragma trees are often found, and oil palm is typical for the lower tier.

African rainforest plants

There are up to 25 thousand species of plants in the African forest flora. Among them, there are relatively few species of palm trees, bamboos, but orchids grow in large numbers.

African rainforest animals

A limited number of species of large animals live in the rainforest, and yet among them there are various antelopes, many monkeys. Among the smallest animals can be called pangolins, pottos or flying spiny-tailed squirrels, reptiles, amphibians, ants, butterflies and other types of insects and invertebrates are very common. There are many birds here, but it is difficult to see them. In tropical forests, grass almost does not grow, so it is extremely rare to find animals for which it serves as food, but they are home to many animals that can eat leaves from trees, shrubs and climbing plants. These are bushbucks, elephants, buffaloes, okapis, bongos and duikers. Such forests are habitats for animals that can climb trees and feed on their leaves and fruits. These are gorillas, chimpanzees and baboons.

The rainforests are home to two species of great apes: the gorilla and the chimpanzee. In Tanzania, some species of chimpanzee even live in a patchwork of rainforests and savannahs. In Zaire, there is a pygmy chimpanzee, or bonobo.

Monkeys such as marmosets, mangabeys and geese live in the rainforest. They are all smaller and lighter than chimpanzees and therefore better climbers than them. They find food mainly in the crowns of the tallest trees, sometimes just at incredible heights. When they are afraid of something, then, running away, they can jump from a height of 20 meters. Gverets jump especially far. Monkeys feed on various fruits, mainly wild figs. In the crown of a large fig tree, several species of monkeys can gather at the same time. The black-and-white white-shouldered guinea pig is the easiest to distinguish. There is a lot of it in the forests from the high mountains in the east of the continent to West Africa itself. In West Africa lives Gverets-Satan, which the locals call the child of the devil. In the lowland forests lives the Red Gverets, a small quiet animal with a very beautiful skin that feeds on leaves and fruits.

Baboons live mainly in the savannah, but two species, the mandrill and the drill, have adapted to life in the rainforest and inhabit forests from Cameroon to the Congo River. They retained the habit of eating on the ground and living in groups. Little is known about the lifestyle of both species. Mandrills are one of the most beloved and popular zoo inhabitants. They attract the attention of visitors with their unusual appearance: the middle of the nose of the male is bright red, and on both sides there are expressive blue stripes. The drill has a black muzzle.

In tropical forests, dwarf forms of some animal species can be found. Pygmy Liberian hippos live only in the densest Guinean rainforests of Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire. Elephants in rainforests are smaller than those in the savannah, with shorter tusks and rounded ears. Forest buffaloes, unlike the large black buffaloes of East and South Africa, are small and red.

The dwarf buffalo in this part of Africa is considerably smaller than the buffalo in the savannas. Usually buffaloes do not pose a danger to humans. When they are wounded, they go into the thicket. If the hunter decides to pursue a wounded animal, he will have to make his way through the thicket on all fours, and in such a situation the buffalo will certainly go on the offensive and can not only injure, but also kill the hunter with his horns.

Two species of large forest pigs are found in tropical forests - a large forest pig, discovered only in 1904, and a bush pig. The latter is very common. These animals eat everything that comes across, therefore, in areas where there is cultivated land, they are considered large pests. Bush-eared pigs live in groups of several hundred heads, but it is quite difficult to see them.

The only large predator living in the rainforests is the storm of animals - the leopard. Its main victims are baboons and bush pigs, so in this case, people consider the leopard a useful animal. A leopard lies in wait for its prey in the crown of a tree and is able to lie so quietly that you won't even notice it from a distance. close range. On the bark of trees, I often noticed deep scratches - traces of the claws of a leopard that climbed up. Once I saw a leopard lying literally three steps away, but he turned away, got up and left. It is curious how many times I was seen so close by leopards, the presence of which I did not even suspect?!

Some forest leopards are black. Many mammals and birds living in humid climate, a tendency towards dark coloration is generally noticeable. Some animals adapt to life in the rainforest, changing color to red, which can be observed in buffaloes. In the forests of West Africa, there are bushbucks and bushbucks, also red, while the bushbucks that live in the Ethiopian highlands are black.

Small rivers and streams flow through the tropical forests, forming shallow lakes and backwaters, often just pits filled with rainwater, in which elephants and buffaloes lie, waddling from side to side. Some forest animals come here to drink, while others do not feel the need for it, because along with the plants they eat, they get enough moisture. In some parts of the forest, growing on sandy soils, it is very difficult to find water during the dry season. The Benin sands are so porous that even after a heavy tropical downpour, all the water is sucked into the ground, which after a few minutes becomes dry again, and no puddles remain anywhere. In places with a sufficient amount of water, the water deer lives, which belongs to the most primitive ruminant animals. Some signs bring it closer not to ruminants, but to camels. Often confused with him pygmy antelope - the smallest of all ruminants. She is the size of a rabbit, and when frightened, she disappears in three-meter jumps.

A significant part of the tropical forests is located on the hills. Rivers, originating in mountains or swamps, go down narrow gorges and, forming foamy whirlpools, rush to the plains, where their flow slows down. During the rainy season, the water level in the rivers rises, but spills are rare here. Much of the water soaks into the soil, even in places like the Cameroonian rainforest, which receives an average of 30 millimeters of rain a day.

The Congo Basin has extensive swampy areas and shallow small lakes. The forests growing in these swampy places are forced to adapt to life in eternal dampness. Here you can see a special type of forest in which such a plexus of palm trees and wild reeds grows that it is practically impossible to get through it. In these thickets, sitatungs are very fond of lingering. The swamps cannot be explored on foot. You can only go by canoe, but the branches hanging low over the water make you bend under them every minute. Having passed through such a tunnel of dense vegetation, you find yourself on a quiet beautiful forest lake surrounded by tall bright green grass. Sometimes there you will see hippos, beautiful bright blue kingfishers, there are also large piebald kingfishers that feed mainly on fish. But there are kingfishers that eat mainly insects. Here, around quiet lakes, a real paradise for these birds: in one place you can immediately see up to five or more species.

The main "fisherman" in the waters of the rainforest is the screaming eagle. He lies in wait for his prey, sitting on tall trees, and as soon as a fish splashes on the surface of the water, he rushes at her. The Angolan vulture also occasionally feeds on small fish or freshwater crabs, although its main food is the fruits of the oil palm. The Cape otter, living in forest rivers, feeds mainly on crabs. You can often see how she lies stretched out on the sand or a rock, holding a crab in her paws and eating it like a person eats a watermelon.

Along river banks or roads, the rainforest gives the impression of an impenetrable wall. Only in the crowns of trees do various birds fly - rhinos, especially the black hornbill. When they fly from tree to tree, their powerful wings make a sharp whistling sound when flapping. Together with these birds, cuckoo-like turaco live there, especially the crested turaco. Thousands fly over the river in the evening bats, which feed on wide-mouthed kites.

The horror of all living things in the rainforests is caused by ants. They are most active at night and during the rainy season. When the ants begin their march, everyone, including the elephants, scatters. You can often see them moving in columns three centimeters wide. On closer inspection, you can see that small ants are walking in the middle, laying eggs. Guards are moving on both sides - large soldier ants with powerful jaws. If there is any obstacle on the way, they pounce on it and bite it. When ants go for food, they go in a wide chain and eat everything that comes in their way. Those who do not have time to hide are destroyed. Ant armies are driven out of their dwellings and people; the only way to get them to turn off the road is to cover it with a thick layer of ash or spray it with poisonous insecticides. Flocks of insectivorous birds are vigilantly watching the moving columns of ants. Several times I was the target of such marching ants and was pretty bitten and suffered for a long time from a terrible headache. Then, every time I saw these columns in the distance, I tried to bypass them. Small birds and young animals suffer greatly from ants. There were cases when ants climbed into the elephant's trunk, which led him to lose his mind.

The boiga snake also climbs trees beautifully, devastating bird nests. The Gaboon viper and the rhinoceros viper are very poisonous. It is not clear why these snakes have such a strong poison, because they feed on small rodents. After a snake bite, it usually immediately releases its prey, and then pursues, which is helped by the sense of smell. Only the Gaboon viper holds the victim tightly, and the dose of poison is so significant that it almost does not resist.

Many forest areas are inhabited by people who annually uproot more and more new forests and cultivate the land. The edges of the forest are gradually being captured by the savannah. It seems that the forests will be reduced, their place will be taken by fields and plantations. Throughout Africa, trees continue to be cut down and no one cares about new plantations. The reduction in forest areas will reduce humidity, which means Africa will dry out and become even more deserted.

The author, who is in love with his science - zoogeography, claims and proves that it is as interesting as everything connected with the life of animals in freedom. He talks in an amazingly accessible way about the biological properties of animals that help them exist in a certain environment, about the connections of fauna with plant formations, about the distribution of animals around the globe and about the factors limiting their resettlement, about the history of the development of fauna on various continents.

Book:

<<< Назад

Forward >>>

Near the equator, the sun is high in the sky all year round. The air is highly saturated with water vapor rising from the damp earth. The seasons of the year are not expressed. It's swelteringly hot.

In such a climate, lush vegetation develops, the most exotic formation of our earth - the tropical forest. Due to the large role of rain in the formation of this formation, it is also called the rainforest.

There are three large tracts of tropical forests in the world: in South America they occupy almost the entire vast Amazon basin; in Africa they cover the Congo River basin and the coast of the Gulf of Guinea; in Asia, tropical forests occupy part of India, the Indochinese Peninsula, the Malay Peninsula, the Greater and Lesser Sunda Islands, the Philippines and the island of New Guinea.

The rainforest seems fabulous to everyone who first gets into it. Abundance of moisture, mineral salts, optimal temperatures create conditions under which plants form dense thickets, and deep shade makes them stretch upwards, towards the light. It is not for nothing that the tropical forest is known for its huge trees, which raise their crowns high.

Extremely characteristic of the tropical forest are epiphytes, which appear on the trunks and branches of other plants. These include both flowering and many species of ferns, mosses and lichens.

Some epiphytes, such as numerous orchids, draw their nutrients exclusively from the air and rainwater.

Under the canopy of the rainforest there are no grasses, only the rotting remains of leaves, branches and huge trunks of dead trees lie here. This is the kingdom of mushrooms. In conditions of heat and moisture, the decomposition and mineralization of the dead remains of plants and animals proceed rapidly, which determines the high rate of the biological cycle of substances.

If in deciduous forest temperate climate three or four tiers are quite clearly expressed, then here, in the tropical thickets, we are immediately lost in a multitude of tiers and semi-tiers.

The richness of the flora is stunning. If in European mixed forests there are five to ten species of trees, then here there are many times more species per hectare of forest than they grow in general in all of Europe. Here you need to spend a lot of time and effort to find at least two identical trees. In Cameroon, for example, there are about 500 tree species and another 800 shrub species.

The wood of trees of the equatorial forest, where seasons are not expressed, does not have rings and is highly valued in industry, for example, ebony (ebony) and mahogany.

At any time of the year, the rainforest blooms and bears fruit. It happens that on the same tree you can simultaneously see buds, flowers, ovaries and ripening fruits. And even if the harvest from one tree is completely harvested, there will always be another nearby, all hung with fruits.

In this amazing environment lives no less wonderful world animals. Air saturated with water vapor allows many invertebrates that usually live in aquatic environment, live here on dry land. For example, Ceylon leeches are widely known (Haemadipsa ceylonica), which stick to the leaves of trees and lie in wait for prey (warm-blooded animals), a number of species of crustaceans, centipedes, and even amphipods.

All invertebrates, whose skin is not covered with a dense chitinous shell, feel really good only in the tropical forest, but in another place they are constantly in danger of drying out. Even an experienced zoologist can hardly imagine how much, for example, gastropods lives in any corner of the rainforest. Only one family Helicarionidae Africa has more species than all the mollusks in all of Poland. Gastropods live everywhere: underground, in fallen trees, on trunks, among branches and leaves, in various tiers of the forest. Even for laying eggs, they do not descend to the ground. Some gastropods of the Philippines (Helicostyla leucophthalma) They build wonderful nests for their eggs from leaves glued together with mucus.

Here are ideal conditions for the habitat of amphibians. In tropical forests, there is a huge variety of species of frogs, tree frogs, and toads. Many species lay their eggs in the axils of huge leaves, where water accumulates. Other species lay their eggs directly on the leaves, and their tadpoles undergo accelerated development inside the gelatinous shells of the eggs. There are also species in which the eggs are carried by the male or female on the back. This lasts more than ten days, while in our conditions the caviar would dry out in a few hours.

Insects in the rainforest multiply continuously and live here in huge numbers.

Perhaps it is on the fauna of insects that it is most clearly seen how the fauna of the tropical forest differs from the tundra. In the tundra, a few species create a billionth population. In tropical thickets, a large zoomass is created due to the abundance of species. In the rainforest, it is much easier to collect a hundred specimens of different species for a collection than the same number of specimens of the same species. A large number of species and a small number of individuals is the main feature of both the flora and fauna of the tropical rainforest. For example, on the island of Barro Colorado in the Panama Canal, as a result of many years of research, about 20 thousand species of insects were discovered on several square kilometers, while in some European country the number of insect species reaches only two to three thousand.

In this diversity, the most fantastic in appearance animals arise. Tropical forests are the birthplace of all praying mantises that mimic the body shape of tree knots, butterflies that look like leaves, wasp flies and other artfully camouflaged species.

Wasps and bumblebees form permanent swarms, living in huge and continuously growing nests. Ants and termites are as common in the rainforests as they are in the savannas. There are many predators among ants, for example, the famous Brazilian ants (Ecitony) not building anthills and migrating in a continuous avalanche. On their way, they kill and devour any animal they meet. They can create a kind of nest from their own bodies, crowding into a tight ball. In the tropics, anthills or termite mounds are rarely found on the ground. Usually they are located high - in hollows, in twisted leaves and inside the stems of plants.

The year-round abundance of flowers explains why birds live only in the tropics, feeding exclusively on nectar or small insects found in flower calyxes. These are two families: hummingbirds of South America (Trochilidae) and African-Asian sunbirds (Nectariniidae). Similarly, butterflies: in the rainforest they fly by the thousands throughout the year.

The continuously ripening fruits serve as food for many groups of frugivorous animals typical of the tropics. Among the birds, the most numerous are parrots, large-billed American toucans (Rhamphastidae) and hornbills (Bucerotidae), which are replacing them in Africa; and in Asia - turaco (Musophagidae) with bright plumage and many others leading a similar lifestyle. Dozens of species of monkeys compete with birds. Fruit eaters spend their lives in the crowns of trees, in the upper tiers of the forest. Large fruit-eating bats are characteristic here. (Megachiroptera)- flying dogs and flying foxes.

In a tropical forest, the higher the tier, the more life.

The arboreal lifestyle is typical of many rainforest animal species. In this regard, small-sized animals predominate here. So, various small monkeys - macaques and monkeys - live in trees, and a large gorilla (up to 200 kilograms in weight) is terrestrial, while chimpanzees, which are of medium size, lead a terrestrial-arboreal lifestyle.

Of the three Brazilian anteaters, the smallest is the pygmy anteater. (Cyclopes didactylus) leads an arboreal lifestyle, and a large anteater (Myrmecophaga jubata)- An exclusively terrestrial animal. The average anteater is tamandua (Tamandua tetradactyla) awkwardly moves both on the ground and along the branches and gets food here and there.

Everyone is familiar tree frog tree frog (Hyla arborea) which, thanks to the suction cups on the fingers, feels confident both on the branches and on the smooth surface of the leaf. In the tropics, tree frogs are extremely widespread. But not only they have suction cups on their fingers. Frogs of three other families also have them: real frogs (Ranidae), copepod frogs (Rhacophoridae) and whistlers (Leptodactylidae). Toes with suction cups also have Indonesian tarsier (Tarsius) tree porcupines and some bats from different parts lights: from America (Thyroptera), Asia (Tylonycteris) and from Madagascar (Myzopoda). When moving along the branches, the most reliable thing is to grab the branch on both sides like ticks. Monkey palms and feet are good, but not the best device of this type. It is better if half of the fingers wrap around the branch on one side, and the other fingers on the other side. This is how the paws of the African grasping frog are arranged. (Chiromantis), in some lizards and chameleons. Birds climbing trees - woodpeckers, toucans, parrots and some cuckoos - have two fingers turned forward and two back. Tenacious paws and suckers do not exhaust all possible adaptations for moving through trees. american sloth (bradypus)- this is another fruit-and leaf-eating animal that lives in the crowns. Elongated, hook-shaped claws allow him to hang in the thick of the branches without expending effort. Even dead, the sloth does not fall to the ground, and its remains hang on the tree for a long time until the skeleton crumbles into separate bones. Climbing parrots use their large hooked beak to cling to tree branches like a claw.

Many animals use a spirally coiled tail for clinging. Chameleons, some lizards and mammals use this "fifth paw". American monkeys: howler monkeys (Alouatta), capuchins (Cebus) coats (Ateles), woolly monkeys (Lagothrix), as well as American tree porcupines (Erethizontidae) great use of the tail when climbing.

Another way of arboreal movement is used by Asian gibbons. (Hylobatidae). The animal, strongly swinging on one arm, flies forward and clings to another branch, then again swings like a pendulum and again flies to the next branch. These jumps sometimes reach 10–20 meters. With this movement, the legs do not work at all, and therefore in gibbons they are short and weak. But the arms are very long and strong: after all, the longer the arm, the stronger the swing. The palms themselves have undergone corresponding changes: the thumb is small and hardly used, and the remaining four fingers are unusually elongated. These fingers form something like a movable hook, which can catch on a flashing branch when jumping.

Tropical birds are bad flyers. Both parrots and toucans are slow-flyers, but they are able to maneuver well in a complex weave of branches. Nowhere in the world are there so many gliding animals, a kind of "paratroopers", as in the rainforest. There's a flying frog here (Rhacophorus), making multi-meter jumps, during which she soars with the help of huge membranes, a flying lizard (Draco volans) in which the protruding processes of the ribs are connected by skin used for soaring. flying squirrels (Sciuridae), dormouse (Aliridae) and some other animals glide on the skin stretched between the limbs. When jumping, the front legs are stretched far forward and to the sides, and the hind legs are pulled back, while the skin is stretched, increasing the bearing surface. A flying cat also uses gliding flight (Cynocephalus ) - a strange creature, from the order of woolly wings, or kaguans (Dermoptera), somewhat similar to the lemur and partly to the insectivorous mammals of the rainforests of Indochina, Indonesia and the Philippines.

In the dense thickets of the tropical rainforest, orientation becomes a serious problem. Here, in front of a dense wall of trees, vines and other plants, vision is powerless. In the upper tiers of the forest it is difficult to see anything further than five meters away.

The sense of smell doesn't help much either. The air is still day and night. No wind penetrates the jungle, does not carry smells through the forest. However, the smell of smoldering and the heavy, intoxicating aroma of tropical flowers drowns out any other smell. In such conditions, hearing is most suitable. Small groups of animals wandering in the crowns owe only to hearing that they do not lose each other. Travelers often mention noisy flocks of parrots and monkeys. They are really very noisy, they constantly call to each other, like children picking berries and mushrooms in the forest. But all solitary animals are silent, silent and listen to see if the enemy is approaching. And the enemy silently circles around and listens to see if possible prey rustles somewhere.

Due to the dense tree canopy, the ground is not visible from above; in addition, the earth does not heat up much, and there are no updrafts in the air, so soaring birds of prey are not found in the rainforest.

A huge number of animals inhabit the upper tiers of the rainforest, but at the very "bottom" of it, on earth, life is also in full swing. In addition to numerous invertebrates, ungulates, predators and large anthropoid monkeys live here. It is in vain to look for large deer with spreading horns here: it would simply be difficult for them to move around in the thicket. In forest tropical deer, the antlers are small, often not branched at all. Most antelopes are also small, about the size of a chamois or hare. An example is the pygmy antelope (Neotragus pygmaeus) about 30 centimeters high at the withers, antelopes from the genus Cephalophus, or red chestnut, with light stripes and spots, the size of a chamois bushbuck antelope (Tragelaphus scriptus). Of the large ungulates in the African forest, the bongo antelope lives (Boocercus eurycerus) reddish-chestnut in color, with thin rare vertical stripes and, of course, with small horns.

Or finally okapi Okapia johnstoni- a species first discovered only in 1901 and more or less studied twenty years later. This animal has been a kind of symbol of the secrets of Africa for many years. It is a distant relative of the giraffe, about the size of a donkey, with a body taller in front than behind, laterally compressed, with a red chestnut body, with black and white striped legs.

Please note: again a reddish chestnut color with white spots and stripes. This type of protective coloring makes sense only in the depths of the forest, where against the reddish background of decaying vegetation, sunlight breaking through the dense arch of the tropical forest lays down with white spots and gliding highlights. All these are relatively large animals lead a nocturnal, hidden lifestyle. If we meet two animals here at the same time, then this is either a couple, or a mother with a baby. Forest ungulates do not have a herd life. And this is understandable: nothing can be seen in the forest at twenty paces, and herding is losing its protective biological significance.

The elephant is the only animal that passes through the thicket, leaving behind a corridor cut through the living body of the forest. Where a herd of elephants feeds, there is a vast trampled space, like an arena under the arch of untouched huge trees.

Kaffir buffalo lives in the forests of Africa (Syncerus caffer), in Asia - gaur (Bibos gaurus). Both of these species willingly use the paths laid by elephants.

The influence of the rainforest also affected the appearance of elephants and buffaloes. The forest elephant subspecies is undeniably smaller than the savannah elephants, and the forest buffalo is not only smaller than the savannah buffalo, but its horns are disproportionately small.

Just as in the savannah lions are constantly followed by jackals feeding on the remains of lion prey, in the rainforest many animals accompany elephants. Different types of wild boars from the genus Hylochoerus and Potamochoerus perfectly adapted to life in the forest. Low, narrow, with a wedge-shaped forehead, with a powerful snout, they feel great in dense thickets. In places where elephants have knocked down trees or uprooted them, wild boars find edible roots and rhizomes, insect larvae, etc. When the feeding place of elephants is completely dug up by wild boars, herds of forest baboons appear on it. Among them are mandrills-sphinxes (Mandrillus sphinx) with brightly colored snouts and buttocks and smaller black-nosed mandrills (M. leucophaeus) that dig into dug up ground in search of food.

Gorillas and chimpanzees make up a special group of higher anthropoid apes here. The former lead a terrestrial, the latter a terrestrial-arboreal way of life. They move easily in the rainforest, roaming in small groups and feeding on a variety of plant and animal foods.

Tropical forests formed over 100 million years ago in a zone along the equator. It's always warm and humid there. In a word, the most suitable place on earth to live and multiply. These forests occupy only 6% of the earth's land, and 80% of all known plant species and almost half of all terrestrial animal species are found in them. The forest population density is very high. All places are occupied - from the tops of trees to the forest floor. Trees and creepers form the frame of the forest. Epiphytes - flowers, ferns and other plants settle directly on the bark of trees and vines. This is where you can see real biodiversity. These forests are called "the jewel of the Earth", "the lungs of the Earth", "the pharmacy of the world". Imagine, many animals and plants have not yet been studied!

fire salamander

The fire salamander, otherwise known as the spotted or common salamander, is the closest relative of the frog, despite the fact that it resembles a lizard in body shape. It belongs to the order of tailed amphibians, to the genus Salamander.

This is a typical amphibious animal, which during its life cycle lives in two environments at once - water and air. The most important distinguishing feature of this animal is color. No wonder this salamander got the second name - fire lizard. After all, the body of this animal is painted in very rich and contrasting colors. Intense black color is combined with equally saturated yellow or orange patterns, which could be called spots and stripes, usually irregularly shaped with blurry edges. On the paws, colored markings are usually symmetrical, and on the body itself, the pattern of placement of spots is not traced.

The lower part of the body is most often painted in one color. dark colors. The abdomen is usually black or brown, but white spots may also be present. The legs of this tailed amphibian, although short, are very strong. There are four toes on the front paws, and five on the hind paws. The limbs are more for walking than for swimming. This is evidenced by the absence of swimming membranes. The head of this salamander is rounded. Visually, it seems to be a continuation of the body.

Every natural phenomenon has its own reason. The color of any animal saves the individual from predators. Salamander is a small, gentle and defenseless creature. She needs to disguise herself as the main shades of the environment. However, the fiery salamander does everything to be noticed. In this she resembles bees, wasps and bumblebees, which have a very noticeable color.

crowned eagle

crowned eagle- This is the largest and most dangerous bird of prey from the hawk family that lives in Africa. This is a brave and incredibly strong predator - often the prey of an eagle is 4-5 times larger than itself: large monkeys, antelopes, hyraxes and other animals.

Crowned eagles live in the expanses of Central Africa: from South Africa to the Gulf of Guinea. Nests are built mainly in forests, much less often in semi-deserts and savannahs. With the exception of Zaire and Kenya, where they are very widespread and widespread, they are quite rare.

Crowned, like other eagles, do not tolerate neighborhood with other representatives of their species. The area patrolled by one eagle can reach 50 km2, the bird will consider all this territory as its own and will not tolerate encroachment from other feathered invaders. These birds spend part of their lives in complete seclusion, but after the creation of a family they are never separated from each other.

The color of this bird is unusually beautiful: a dark black back with a graphite tint is in perfect harmony with a light striped belly, bright yellow paws with black claws and a black and yellow beak. In addition, the coloring of the predator allows him to disguise himself well among the half-bald African trees.

Main distinguishing feature Stephanoaetus coronatus- this, of course, is a crown of feathers rising at the back of the head. The bird does this when danger or irritation approaches, accompanying discontent with a loud expressive cry. It is also worth noting that the crown of an eagle set up does not bode well - protecting the nest, eagles often violently attack large animals and even people.

coats

Koats are a genus of monkeys whose life takes place on the territory of South America, as well as Central America.

They can be found in French Guiana, Suriname, Brazil, Guyana and Peru. These primates are classified by scientists as spider monkeys. One of the well-known species in this family is the black coat. The body of these arachnid primates grows in length from 38 to 63 centimeters. The length of the tail is slightly longer than the length of the body and reaches from 50 to 90 centimeters.

The physique of these monkeys is slender, the limbs are long with hook-shaped fingers. The coat is long and shiny, slightly longer on the shoulders than on the belly. The long tail of the black coata performs a grasping function, with the help of which she deftly clings to tree branches when she tries to get food.

The head of the animal is small. On the forehead, the hair forms something like a comb. Fur color varies from yellowish-gray to black. hallmark considered to be a golden yellow stripe on the forehead.

This South American monkey chooses to live in tropical forests, as well as forests located in the coastal strip. Koats are diurnal animals. These monkeys spend almost all their time in trees.

If the koata senses the approach of the enemy, it turns to flight with great speed. At night, coats sleep, nestled in the crown of tall trees.

Okapi

Okapi are the only relatives of giraffes, despite the fact that their necks are not long. They look as if they are made up of parts of different animals: legs, like a zebra, in black and white stripes, the head is gray, and the neck, body and round ears are brown. The okapi's tongue is so large that they can even use it to clean their ears. The height of pygmy giraffes at the withers is 150-170 cm, and they weigh about 200 kg.

Okapi live in small areas in the western part of Central Africa, in the humid jungle. They feed mainly on leaves, young branches and various tropical species of spurge plants, and sometimes include berries and herbs in their diet. At the same time, they pinch only the most tender shoots.

Pygmy giraffes are solitary and meet with other individuals only for mating. This can happen at any time of the year. The offspring stay with their mother for several years.

Since the animals are quite large and well protected, they have almost no natural enemies. An okapi can be attacked by a leopard, hyena or crocodile. The main enemy, as always, is a man who cuts down virgin forests, reducing living space little giraffe.

Since these are very shy animals, Europeans noticed them only in the 19th century. The first to report the okapi was the African explorer Henry Stanley, who in 1880 saw forest giraffe by the Congo River. And only in 1901 they were described in detail and received a scientific name.

Toucan

Toucans can be found in South and Central America under rainforest canopies. During sleep, toucans turn their heads and place their beaks under their wings and tail. Toucans are very important to the rainforest because they help spread the seeds from the fruits and berries they eat. There are about 40 different types of toucans, but unfortunately some species are endangered. The two main threats to the existence of toucans are the loss of their habitat and the growing demand in the commercial pet market.

They vary in size from about 15 centimeters to just over two meters. Large, colorful, light beaks are the hallmarks of toucans. These are noisy birds with their loud and raspy voices.

Porcupine

The entire body of this rodent is covered with long needles that are black, brown or white. Experts who have studied life and habits porcupine, in their reports claim that the number of needles on the animal is approximately 30,000 pieces! Their weight does not press the rodent to the ground only because all the needles covering the body of the porcupine are hollow. When the animal is in the water, the needles serve as a buoy for him. And in a fight with predators - a tiger, a leopard, needles are an excellent means of defense. They dig into the body of the enemy and often cause inflammation in wounds. The porcupine itself does not suffer at all from the loss of needles, since new ones quickly grow in place of the old ones.

The porcupine family is numerous. Some of the species can be found in Asia Minor, South, Central and East. Others are in Africa, South and North America, the Middle East and Europe. Their home can be foothills and plains, shrouds and deserts, tropical forest. Animals in any conditions feel great. They spend the day in cozy burrows and caves. And in the evening they come to the surface for food.

The basis of the diet of rodents is plant food - the green and root parts of plants, tubers and bulbs, melons, pumpkins, cucumbers, Bottom part vegetation and bark. For chewing, their animals have powerful incisors that always grow and remain sharp. If porcupine teeth did not have these properties, the animal would starve to death. In the name of searching for a vegetable diet, the animal already has to make huge routes and move away from the habitat halo by 5-7, more kilometers. And only as the cold weather sets in, the porcupine loses its summer activity. It rarely leaves its burrow and then hibernates until spring.

river dolphin

River dolphins are part of the toothed whale family. The river dolphin family consists of the Amazonian, Chinese, Gangetic and Lapland river dolphins. Unfortunately, Chinese river dolphins could not be saved: in 2012, the animals were given the status of "extinct".

Biologists believe that the reason for their extinction lies in poaching activities, the discharge of substances of chemical origin into water bodies, and violations of the natural ecosystem (the construction of dams, dams). Animals could not live in artificial conditions, so science does not know many of the nuances of their existence.

The Amazonian river dolphin is a real record holder among members of the river dolphin family: the body weight of river inhabitants is from 98.5 to 207 kg, and the maximum body length is about 2.5 m. Due to the fact that animals can be painted in light and dark tones of gray, heavenly or even pink color they are also called white river dolphins and pink river dolphins.

River dolphins have very poor eyesight, but, despite this, they are perfectly oriented in the reservoir thanks to their excellent hearing and echolocation abilities. In river dwellers, the cervical vertebrae are not interconnected, which allows them to turn their heads at right angles to their bodies. Dolphins can reach speeds up to 18 km / h, under normal conditions they swim at a speed of 3-4 km / h.

Bengal tigers

The Bengal tiger lives in the Sundarbans regions of India, Bangladesh, China, Siberia and Indonesia, and is seriously endangered. Today at wild nature about 4000 individuals remained, while at the turn of the century in 1900 there were more than 50 thousand. Poaching and habitat loss are the two main reasons for the declining numbers of Bengal tigers. They have not been able to adapt to harsh conditions, despite their belonging to the dominant species. Tigers, also known as the Royal Bengal Tiger, which is a subspecies of the tiger, can be found in the Indian subcontinent. The Bengal tiger is the national animal of Bangladesh and is considered the second largest tiger in the world.

South American harpies

One of the largest and most powerful of the fifty species of eagles in the world, the South American harpy lives in the tropical lowland forests of Central and South America, from southern Mexico south to eastern Bolivia, and southern Brazil to northern Argentina. This is a disappearing view. The main threat to its existence is habitat loss due to constant deforestation, destruction of nesting and hunting grounds.

Tetra Congo

Congo tetra is of amazing beauty, active, peaceful, flocking aquarium fish, which is also called rainbow or blue Congo. This fish is a representative of the African Kharacin species, which was described by the biologist Boulanger back in 1899.

Congo tetra is common in Africa. wild populations endemic to part of the rivers of the Congo Basin in Democratic Republic Congo.
These fish keep in flocks in river water. At the same time, in nature they consume mainly representatives of crustaceans, insects and various types of zoo- and phytoplankton. Most of the commercially available fish are bred for sale in Asia and Eastern Europe.

The body of the fish is elongated and flat laterally. The fins spread out in lush fans on the sides of the body during movement. Males are also distinguished by long processes, similar to a veil, which are located on the tail, as well as dorsal and anal fins. In addition, the male has a three-lobed tail, in which the middle lobe protrudes slightly forward.

Tetra Congo in the aquarium shows a beautiful color that shimmers beautifully in the water. It is represented by blue, red-orange and golden yellow hues. The fins, on the other hand, have more muted tones, these are translucent, gray-violet shades. Congo is classified as a medium-sized fish. Adults reach a size of 8 cm in length, if we are talking about males. Females are usually slightly smaller - about 6 centimeters.

Jaco

Jaco, or gray parrot, belongs to the parrot family, and today it is the only species from the genus of dumb-tailed parrots. Such a bird is quite different complex nature, therefore, before buying, you need to familiarize yourself with the possible upcoming difficulties, as well as the features of the content.

The length of an adult bird is 30-35 cm. The average wingspan is 65 cm with a length of each wing of 22 cm. Long wings have well-developed ends. The length of the tail, as a rule, does not exceed 8 cm.

An adult Jaco has a black curved beak and a yellow iris.. Legs are lead grey. Characteristic are the leathery nostrils and cere, as well as the frenulum and the area around the eyes. Jaco's plumage is represented by two primary colors: ash gray and purplish red.

Jaco is one of the most intelligent birds, and the level of intelligence is comparable to the development of a child at the age of three to four years. A feature of this type of parrot is the ability not only to reproduce many of the sounds heard, but also to accurately repeat the intonation. According to the researchers, Jaco easily determines the situation, so the spoken words often carry a semantic load.

As an overnight stay, Jaco uses the tallest trees, where the birds settle down after sunset.. In the morning, parrots scatter in search of food. Jaco feeds mainly on the fruits of palm trees, as well as various seeds or foliage, fruits. Often there are "raids" of flocks on banana plantations.

Sloths

Sloths- This is a family of mammals belonging to the order of edentulous. You can meet them in a relatively small area, namely in Brazil and Patagonia.

Sloths were first described by European conquistadors in the sixteenth century. Pedro Cieza de Leon's report contained appearance these animals are "ugly". It was immediately noted that they move extremely slowly and “lazy”, hence their name. They really move very slowly, so they are almost defenseless in front of predators. However, due to their inconspicuous coloration and slow movements, sloths are almost invisible against the background of trees.

The habitat of these animals is the tropical forest. They live in trees and rarely descend to the ground. The cubs cling to their mother's fur until they learn to climb trees on their own. The usual temperature for sloths is just over 30 degrees Celsius. They can walk and even swim, but also very slowly. Most of the day - about 15 hours - sloths sleep, which once again justify their name.

These animals are herbivores by nature. They feed on the flowers and leaves of a plant called cecropia. Sometimes they can eat small lizards or insects. It should be noted that sloths often eat enough food for a month, and their huge stomach can hold so much food that the weight of a well-fed sloth becomes double or even triple compared to what it was before.

capybaras

The capybara spends a lot of time in the water and is an excellent swimmer and diver. She has webbed toes on her front and hind feet. When she swims, only her eyes, ears and nostrils are visible above the water. Capybaras feed on plant foods, including aquatic plants, and these animals' molars grow throughout their lives to counteract wear and tear from chewing. Capybaras live in families and are active at dawn and dusk. In areas where they are often disturbed, capybaras may lead night image life. Males and females look the same, but males have a gland on their nose that is larger than females. They mate in the spring, and after 15-18 weeks of pregnancy, there may be 2 babies in the litter. Babies are well developed at birth.

royal colobus

The king colobus or black and white colobus, as well as the western black and white colobus. Royal colobus - primates - medium in size with a slender body.

Royal colobus are easily distinguished from other species of the genus Colobus by their white spots on their shiny, silky black coat. Monkeys of this species have whiskers, chest, and white tail. Corns are developed on the central rump. Cheek pouches are absent. Thumb the forelimb is represented by a simple tubercle.

At present, most of I am under rice and other crops. In this case, colobuses settle in massifs of young secondary forests. Old secondary forests make up only 60%.

Royal colobuses form small groups of 5-20 individuals. The family consists of 1-3 males, 3-4 females and young monkeys. They all rest together on the same tree. Often in the forest there are single young males without a family. There are sometimes territorial disputes between different flocks. In this case, the males defend their territory from the invasion of other colobuses, protect the fiefs of the flock when attacked by predators.

Even birds have freedom of choice. Here is the African marabou - a bird, by the way, from the stork family, does not carry children, but prefers to lead the lifestyle of a vulture, which was reflected in its appearance.

The marabou has no plumage on the head and neck, which makes it much easier to keep them clean. And since he often has to rummage through the garbage or tear the carcasses of dead animals apart, feathers would only get in the way, being an ideal breeding ground for bacteria.

For such operations, a strong beak is needed, so the long and thin stork beak has turned into a powerful club, with which the marabou is not averse to beating impudent competitors on occasion.

Even large predators are afraid of the blows of this bird, and hyenas, jackals and vultures yield their prey to him without a fight at all. However, there is another explanation for such compliance: the marabou can deftly skin a fresh corpse, after which it is much easier for scavengers to cope with its remains. Every day this bird, which weighs 6-9 kg, needs at least a kilogram of food. A hungry marabou scatters rivals in a second and greedily pounces on food.

This is a rather large bird - its height is about one and a half meters, and its wing length is more than 70 cm. Although it does not make a special impression because of its peculiar stoop and senile fluff on its head.

Hippopotamus

Hippopotamus- a large herbivorous mammal that spends most of its time in the water. Animals live in fresh water, only occasionally hippos can be in salty sea water.

Another name for the hippopotamus is the hippopotamus. Animals, along with rhinos, are second only to elephants in terms of weight: some individuals can reach 4 tons or more. Currently, hippos live only in Africa: cold or tropical climate hippopotamus can't stand it.

Hippos are one of the largest land animals. Usually their weight is 2-3 tons, but can exceed 4 tons. At the same time, the length of adult hippos can be more than 5 meters! The hippopotamus tail alone is almost 60 cm long. Hippos have a characteristic appearance: a very wide muzzle with small eyes and ears, as well as large nostrils, a barrel-shaped body and a very short legs. The skin of hippos is very thick, greyish-brown, without hair.

Usually hippos are kept in groups of 2-3 dozen individuals. Sometimes there are many more animals in the herd. During the day, hippos lie in the water. In this case, only part of the face and back is visible. Hippos can swim or walk along the bottom of a pond. Animals can hold their breath for quite a long time - sometimes up to 10 minutes. Hippos are herbivores, but they do not like water plants and feed on land mainly at night.

A hippopotamus can live for about 40 years, and in captivity, a zoo - more than 50 years. Among hippos, as well as among people, there are centenarians: science knows the case when a female hippo lived for 60 years.

spider monkeys

Spider monkeys are large. An adult monkey can grow to be almost 60 centimeters tall, not counting the tail. The tail is very powerful. Monkeys use it as an extra limb. Spider monkeys like to hang upside down, clinging to branches with their tail and paws, which makes them look like spiders, where they get their name from. Also, these monkeys can jump from branch to branch at high speed. Their coat color can be black, brown, gold, red or bronze. Spider monkeys are the object of close attention of hunters, which is why they are on the verge of extinction.

Gold-helmed kalao

The golden-helmeted kalao is one of the types of helmeted kalao. The species lives in the jungles of West Africa, mainly in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. The golden-helmeted kalao is one of the largest forest birds in Africa, its mass can reach 2 kg. They usually live in small groups, but can also gather in fairly large colonies. The basis of nutrition is ants and termites. The main danger is the crowned eagle. Helmeted kalaos are able to distinguish between the disturbing cries of Dian monkeys, which they emit when a leopard approaches and when a crowned eagle approaches.

herbivore dracula

Herbivorous Dracula is a mammal from the family of leaf-nosed bats. Despite its terrible name, the creature is completely harmless. It was not noticed in drinking human blood, it feeds exclusively on the juicy pulp of environmentally friendly and ripe fruits. This is very rare view. It was found in the tropical evergreen forests of South America. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela and Colombia, mainly along the eastern slopes of the Andes.

Small populations are found in the gallery forests of dry regions. They can live both on flat terrain and in mountains up to 2250 m above sea level. Occasionally they settle on farms and in the city. Herbivorous Draculas live in pairs or alone. They lead a nocturnal lifestyle. During the daytime, animals hide in caves, underground voids or in the dense crowns of ficus trees.

The head and body are about 53-57 mm long, forearms up to 40-42 mm. The color of the fur is light brown above and white-brown below. Single white hairs grow in the middle of the back. Weight does not exceed 15-18 g. The rudimentary remnant of the tail is hardly noticeable.

At the end of the muzzle is a pointed leathery outgrowth called the nasal leaf. In males, it is much more developed than in females. The ears are large and triangular in shape.

Males have a large fold of skin on the nape. During daytime sleep, he closes her eyes in the form of a mask so that bright light does not interfere with proper rest. In females, this fold is absent.

bearded pig

In different sources, the bearded pig species is divided into two or three subspecies. This is a curly bearded pig that lives on the Malay Peninsula and the island of Sumatra, a Bornean bearded pig and a Palawan bearded pig that live, judging by the name, on the island of Borneo and Palawan, as well as on Java, Kalimantan and the small islands of the Indonesian archipelago in South Africa. East Asia.

Bearded pigs live in tropical forests and mangroves in tribal groups. A feature of the lifestyle of this species is migratory behavior when thousands of individuals make long journeys hundreds of kilometers in search of food. Often they move along the same beaten paths.

Bearded pigs are omnivores and feed on fruits, roots, young shoots of the sago palm, as well as insects, worms, small invertebrates, and carrion. Being diurnal animals, bearded pigs switch to a nocturnal lifestyle during migration, overcoming long distances and water barriers with almost no feeding. Often herds of pigs raid yams and cassava fields, causing damage to peasant farms, or follow groups of gibbons and macaques, picking up discarded fruit.

Outwardly, bearded pigs are leaner, leaner and longer-legged compared to ordinary wild relatives. They can reach 100-160 cm in length, height at the withers 70-85 cm and weight up to 150 kg. Bearded pigs got their name due to the presence of light bristles covering the muzzle from the corners of the mouth almost to the ears, while the main color of the pig is gray or dark brown.

tarantula spider

tarantula spiders belong to the spider family. Adult individuals reach large sizes, sometimes exceeding 20 cm in paw span. These spiders are often used as pets.

There are tarantulas on every continent except Antarctica. True, in Europe they are rare, but the tropical forest and even hot desert these spiders love it. Strict predators - tarantulas best of all assimilate not meat food, but insects: flies, small spiders and cockroaches. They can eat frogs and small rodents. It is common for tarantulas to lie in wait for their prey in ambush, without spider traps. However, they use their spider remedy to strengthen the dwelling.

These arthropods live in trees, the ground, and in burrows. They are characterized by calm behavior, they do not like to be disturbed, and they can starve for a long time, just not to disturb their peace. Spiders are born from eggs, after surviving two molts, they turn into larvae, and then reach adulthood.

The lifespan of a spider is measured in molts. Dropping the old shell, they increase up to one and a half times. The life span and growth of spiders depend on temperature and food availability. Sometimes, when molting, spiders cannot stretch their legs out of the old “body”. They have to leave their limbs in the old skin and wait for new ones to grow. Usually it takes another 3-4 molts.

Spiny tail squirrels

Spiny-tailed squirrels (spintails) are small-sized rodents. Body length 6.3–43 cm. Tail length 75–46 cm. Weight up to 2 kg. The eyes and ears are large. The appearance is somewhat reminiscent of a squirrel or flying squirrels. Adapted to an arboreal lifestyle. With the exception of representatives of one genus, all spine-tailed animals have a skin flying membrane between the forelimbs and hind limbs, as well as between the hind limbs and the tail and between the forelimbs and the neck. A kind of cartilaginous rod extends from the elbow joint to the side, supporting this flying membrane. The fingers on the limbs are well developed and equipped with sharp and strong claws.

The spike-tailed squirrels inhabit tropical and subtropical forests. They lead an arboreal lifestyle. Activity is nocturnal, and in the spiny-tailed squirrel, it may also be diurnal. The day is spent, as a rule, in hollows.

They usually live in pairs, sometimes in small groups. They make long, gliding jumps, like flying squirrels. They feed on fruits, seeds, nuts, leaves, bark of various trees, and insects. Pregnant females were found in Cameroon in June - July, and in the Republic of Zaire - February and June. Apparently, each female has 2 litters per year, with 1 to 4 cubs in each litter. The local population consumes representatives of the family for food.

Chameleon

Chameleons belong to the class of scaly reptiles. The modern classification of chameleons includes 11 genera, which are formed by more than 193 of their species and subspecies. Of these, more than 60 species live in Madagascar.

These amazing animals, along with their other relatives, lead an extremely calm and measured lifestyle. Spending most of their lives on trees, descending to the ground only during the mating season and for laying eggs.

Their habitat is quite wide: from the African continent and Magadascar, India and Sri Lanka to the Middle East, and even some countries in southern Europe. Most often they can be found in the jungle, savannas and, much less often, in the foothills, steppes and semi-deserts.

The most amazing property possessed by chameleons is their ability to disguise themselves as the surrounding background, namely, to change the color of the body depending on the surface on which they are located. This ability is explained by the presence of chromatophore cells in their skin, in which coloring pigments are located. In addition to using this ability for camouflage purposes, chameleons also change color in other life situations - when frightened, in mating games, and also to adopt an aggressive color to scare off enemies.

Chameleons are skilled hunters. They feed mainly on insects, but larger species also eat small lizards, rodents, and snakes. Also, chameleons are not averse to eating the leaves and fruits of some trees. During the extraction of food, they, having taken the background surrounding area can remain completely still for hours. The main tool of their hunting is a long tongue with a kind of sucker at the end. Throwing out the tongue towards a potential victim at a speed of 1/20 of a second, a chameleon can catch up to four insects within three seconds.

If the prey is too heavy and strong, the chameleon can use its mouth to capture it. A very interesting ability of a chameleon is that in a state of rest or sleep, it “stores” its long tongue rolled up into a tube in its own esophagus!!!

kinkajou

Many mammals in the Amazon rainforest are excellent tree climbers and use their tail as a fifth limb to fly from tree to tree. These include chain-tailed monkeys - howler monkeys and coats, as well as kinkajou - representatives of the raccoon family covered with yellowish hair. Like raccoons, kinkajou, whose body length is approximately one meter, are mainly nocturnal. These animals feed on insects and fruits, and also like to eat honey, in which they are helped by a long thin tongue. The kinkajou has a long, 10 cm tongue that grabs fruit and licks nectar from flowers.

sun bear

The biruang or sun bear gets its name from the round white or orange patch on its chest.

The Malayan bear lives in Thailand, Indonesia, southern China and India. The biruang lives on flat surfaces and in the forests of the subtropics and tropics. Also, the sun bear is found in swampy undergrowth and more mountainous terrain. Being adapted to climbing trees, Malay bears can spend all day basking in the sun on the trees, eating succulent leaves along the way. For their convenience, they fold the branches, creating something resembling a nest.

An adult male weighs up to 65 kg, and its body length reaches 1.6 m. Females are on average 10% smaller than males. The tail is short, 3-7 cm, the ears are small, rounded. The maximum length of the skull is 23.2 cm. The female's pregnancy lasts 95 days. Usually 1-2 cubs are born, which stay with their mother until they are three years old. The maximum life span of a sun bear in captivity is 24 years.

A distinctive feature of the sun bear is a long tongue, which makes it easy to get termites, which he enjoys eating. The bear also feeds on small birds, rodents, lizards and carrion. Living close to humans, these bears devastate landfills and plantations. Powerful jaws even allow you to crack open coconuts.

Despite their size, Biruangs are very aggressive, even tigers shy away from them. An interesting fact: there is a lot of loose skin on the neck of the biruang, therefore, being grabbed by the neck, it can turn around and bite the offender.

flying dragons

Tree lizards, so-called flying dragons, actually glide from tree to tree on their skin flaps, which look like wings. On each side of the body, between the fore and hind limbs, there is a large flap of skin supported by expanded movable ribs. Usually these "wings" are folded along the torsos, but they can open up to allow the lizard to glide for many meters in an almost horizontal state. The flying dragon feeds on insects, in particular ants. For reproduction, the flying dragon descends to the ground and lays 1 to 4 eggs in the soil.

South American nosoha

The name coati or coatimundi is borrowed from the language of the Tupian Indians. The prefix "coati" means "belt" and "tim" means "nose.

The head is narrow with a slightly upward elongated and very flexible nose. Ears are small and rounded inside with white rims. The fur is short, thick and fluffy. The tail is long, used for balance when moving. On the tail are light yellowish rings, alternating with rings of black or brown.

The South American nosoha has short and powerful paws. The ankles are very mobile, thanks to which the animals can climb down from the tree, both the front and the back end of the body. The claws on the fingers are long, the soles are bare. Thanks to strong clawed paws, nosuha successfully uses them to dig out insect larvae from under rotten logs.

Nosukh can be found in lowland forests, wooded river areas, dense bushes and rocky areas. Due to human influence, they currently prefer secondary forests and forest edges. On the eastern and western slopes of the Andes mountains, they are found up to 2500 meters above sea level.

Food: South American nosy are primarily omnivores, they usually seek out fruits and invertebrates. They eat eggs, beetle larvae and other insects, scorpions, centipedes, spiders, ants, termites, lizards, small mammals, rodents, and even carrion when available to them.
They can be found in landfills, where they scour human garbage and select everything edible from it. Sometimes South American noses eat chickens from local farmers.

Usually active during the day. Animals spend most of their active time foraging, and at night they sleep on trees, which also serve to equip the den and give birth to offspring. When threatened on the ground, the noses run to the trees; when predators threaten on a tree, they easily run to the end of the branch of one tree, and then jump to the lower branch on the same or even another tree.

Quezal

The quezal is a very rare bird that lives in the dense tropical forests of Central America. The Indians of the Aztec and Mayan tribes considered it sacred. The male quetzal bird, the size of a dove, is adorned with a bright green tail, which reaches a length of 90 cm. This is probably the most luxurious bird of all living in tropical forests, although many birds of these forests have very bright plumage, probably in order to make them lighter. could be seen in the dark forest.

electric eel

An electric eel that lives in the muddy river waters of the Amazon can easily kill a person by shocking him. Most often, the victim that this eel strikes drowns due to the fact that he cannot move after the defeat. This predatory fish uses its electrical properties to kill prey and move in poor visibility. Despite the name, electric eels are not at all closely related to common eels and belong to a different family - electric eels. .

helmeted cassowary

The helmeted cassowary reaches a height of 1.5 m and a weight of about 80 kg. On the head, the cassowary has an outgrowth called a "helmet", which is larger in males than in females. The massive three-toed legs of this New Guinean bird are armed with large claws, the claw of the central toe is especially long. With this weapon, the cassowary is capable of inflicting serious wounds, since, defending itself, it begins to kick with its feet. Cassowaries run fast and jump well.

It lives in the humid forests of New Guinea, on the Indonesian islands of Seram and Aru, as well as in the northeastern part of Australia. The main food of the helmeted cassowary is fruits that have fallen from the tree, as well as small animals.

The cassowary is a monogamous bird. The main breeding season for cassowaries is in July-August. The cassowary nest is a cleared area on the ground. The nest is built by the male from moss and leaves. Greenish cassowary eggs weigh more than 500 g. A clutch of 3 to 6 eggs is incubated by both the male and the female, while in another representative of the genus of cassowaries, the muruk, only the male incubates. Chicks appear in September, sometimes later.

bullet ant

The world's largest ant can grow to the size of your little finger and can bite like a wasp. Unlike many other ant species, bullet ants are solitary during the day, but prefer to gather in colonies at night. Nests are usually built at the base of trees. These ants are nicknamed "bullets", apparently due to the fact that their bites are very painful and can hurt for several days. The local tribes used these ants to initiate boys, preparing them for adulthood. The teenager was stung by ants, and he should not have uttered a sound.

Ant-eater

Anteaters, or anteaters - this is the name of the family of mammals, which belongs to the order of edentulous. It includes three genera: pygmy, giant and four-toed anteaters.

The anteater has a long muzzle with a tube-shaped nose and a narrow mouth, small eyes and ears. On the front paws there are five fingers, unlike the hind ones, and on the fingers there are long hooked claws. The hind feet are less often five-fingered, more often four-fingered.

Vision and hearing in anteaters are not very developed, in contrast to the sense of smell, which is developed just fine. They smell predators well and in case of danger they can stand up for themselves thanks to their claws. They live alone, only females for some time after the birth of the cub carry it on their backs. They breed once a year.

In full accordance with its name, the anteater really feeds mainly on ants. For this purpose, he, in addition to a narrow long muzzle, has a long flexible tongue. The salivary glands secrete sticky saliva, and the tongue itself has a length comparable to the length of the body. For example, in a giant anteater, it is more than half a meter in length.

These animals have no teeth, and the lower jaw is practically not developed. However, he doesn't really need it. To find prey, anteaters tear open anthills and termite mounds, after which they catch insects with their long sticky tongue. Occasionally, anteaters also eat bees and other insects. Having no teeth, anteaters grind food with well-developed stomach muscles.

forest nightjar

During the day, these birds rest on dead tree branches, their coloration and body shape imitating their resting place so well that the birds can hardly be seen. They are nocturnal, catching insects, and during the day they skillfully hide, as they say, in the most visible place. From infancy, chicks master the science of disguise and, although they have a different color, ideally hide on the same piece of wood, only in the form of mushrooms.

Dart frogs

These incredibly small amphibians surprise not only with their brightest color, but also with their strong poisonousness. A special distribution of poison dart frogs is observed in Central and South America, where tropical rainforests predominate. Now experts know about 170 species of poison dart frog.

For all its diminutiveness, this amphibian does not hold cunning. The frog's narrow 3-cm body is kept on the surface by means of sticky discs, which are equipped with its long sticky fingers.

Everyone who sees the poison dart frog live, definitely wants to take a closer look at its unique picturesque outfit. However, this is where the danger lies: it is absolutely forbidden to touch this frog with unprotected hands, because the special glands of its skin secrete deadly poisonous substance. Each animal from the habitats of the poison dart frog knows from birth how dangerous it is to touch this little beauty.

The amphibian is active during the daytime and spends its life catching insects, in particular favorite insects such as ants, termites and crickets. According to scientists, the production of poison in a frog occurs due to the use of formic acid.

Ants leaf cutters

Leaf cutter ants live in the forests of Central and South America. Each of the huge underground colonies of these ants breeds special microscopic fungi that serve as food for them. Ants "comb" the forests in search of suitable foliage, pieces of which they cut and carry to their nests. There, other ants crush them and lay "gardens" in which fungi grow on this plant mass. Ants tend their gardens and pick these fungi when they grow up. The ants themselves do not eat the leaves.

Anaconda

The large anaconda, found in the rivers of South America, is one of the longest snakes in the world. The anaconda has a dark green color with large black spots, which allows it to be well camouflaged in the forest and wait for its victims on the banks of the river, where animals come to quench their thirst. The snake covers the victim with its long body, gradually squeezing the ring.

gibbons

Gibbons live in trees in the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia. These are mainly small monkeys, their body length reaches 50 cm. The largest of the gibbons are siamangs, they are 90 cm in length. Gibbons are omnivorous, they feed on fruits, young shoots, as well as small mammals, birds, insects and other invertebrates.

Primates move through trees with their hands. They rarely descend to the ground and move along it in an upright position, under their arms, with one arm stretched forward and the other back.

Gibbons live in small family groups. Each group strictly guards its territory with an area of ​​​​approximately 1000, uttering loud piercing cries and thereby warning its relatives from other groups that the territory is occupied. Gibbons spend most of their lives in trees. They have very long arms, extremely mobile shoulder joints, long toes and fingers, with which they cling tightly to tree branches. All this allows gibbons to easily fly from branch to branch and hang on trees.

wallaby

In many English-speaking countries, wallabies are called "thin-tailed wallabies" because of their long, thin, pointed tail. The wallaby's tail is slightly longer than its body. Wallabies keep themselves "upright", leaning on their hind legs and tail.

The wallaby feeds on the so-called "kangaroo grass", sometimes eating various ferns. This wallaby often grazes with the gray kangaroo, but the animals feed on various types herbs and do not compete with each other. Wallaby prefers certain types of herbs, while avoiding others. Wallabies graze in small herds of 2-10 animals. When feeding, they keep "upright" and present food to the mouth with their front paws. Even on days when the heat reaches its peak, the animals do not go to the river to drink, because they get all the necessary moisture from food.

Wallabies often graze during the day, while other types of kangaroos are active at dusk or at night. At noon, wallabies rest in the shade. In the evening they again go in search of food. During such searches, the animals move rather slowly, such leisurelyness is the result of the sweltering heat.

Wallabies inhabit hilly plains overgrown with light eucalyptus forests, herds of these animals comb through in search of food. Deforestation of large areas of forest has not led to much impact on the number of wallabies.

Grassy plains covered with dense vegetation provide food and shelter for animals. Thanks to reserves in southeast Queensland and northeast New South Wales, wallaby populations are especially numerous.

Gorilla

Gorillas- these are the largest great apes, subdivided into three subspecies: eastern plains, eastern mountainous and western plains.

The growth of males varies from 165 to 190 cm, weight on average 200 kg. The mass of the female is half that. Animals have a powerful physique with highly developed muscles. The coat of the gorilla is dark in color, a silvery stripe gradually forms on the backs of adult males. The hind limbs are short, and the forelimbs are long, the feet are powerful. The head is large with a protruding brow and a low forehead. They move on four limbs, relying on their fists when walking.

Gorillas feed mainly on plant foods, although they sometimes also eat meat. Particularly fond of wild celery, nettle, bamboo shoots and bedstraw.

Females become sexually mature by the age of 10, once every three years they give birth to one cub, which is with the mother until the birth of the next. The life expectancy of gorillas is 30-60 years.

The lowland gorillas are found in the tropical forests of Africa, while the mountain subspecies live on the slopes of volcanic mountains.

According to researchers, gorillas are kept in groups (7-30 individuals), which consist of one male, several females and their children. Gorillas, contrary to a widespread myth, are quite peaceful, they never attack other animals and their own kind for no reason, although they are always ready for protection. When a leader male and a lone male who likes other females meet, it rarely comes to a fight, it all ends in a show of strength.

Crocodile

Crocodile- a semi-aquatic predatory animal belonging to the class "Reptiles". These reptiles are quite dangerous. You can often hear a message about a crocodile attack on a person. Reptiles can reach more than 8 meters in length, and the weight of a crocodile can reach up to one ton!

In the modern world, there are a large number of genera of crocodiles. At the same time, a significant number of reptiles became extinct many millennia ago. According to scientists, crocodiles are the most developed of modern species reptiles. And reptiles are closest to dinosaurs and birds in terms of the evolutionary process.

The usual length of crocodiles varies from 2 to 5 meters depending on the species, although very large animals are also found. Basically, crocodiles are in the water, resting or hunting. The lifestyle of reptiles influenced their appearance: a flattened, flat body, flat head, short legs and a powerful, mobile tail, which crocodiles use when moving in water.

A characteristic feature of crocodiles are the strongest jaws in nature in animals and a large number of teeth (60 or more). At the same time, new teeth in reptiles can appear about three thousand times in their entire life. Interestingly, the teeth of crocodiles are hollow, empty inside, and new teeth grow inside the old ones.

Crocodiles are cold-blooded animals, that is, their body temperature is completely dependent on the ambient temperature. That is why reptiles prefer a warm climate, and too low (below 20 ° C) and too high (38 ° C) temperatures are deadly for them. In such conditions, the crocodile simply will not survive.

Crocodiles are long-lived, they can live up to 100 years. This is also facilitated by the fact that animals do not have natural enemies in nature. Another feature of crocodiles is that they grow throughout their lives.

Tapir

An unusual animal inhabits the Indochina peninsula and its neighboring islands. This animal from the family of artiodactyls vaguely resembles a panda in color, and in body structure - wild pig boar. Only now, instead of a snout, he has a proboscis growing. They call this miracle tapir.

In total, 4 types of tapir have been preserved in the world, 3 of them live in America, and one - black-backed tapir - in southeast Asia. These are one of the most ancient animals on the planet - they have been living for at least more than 55 million years. And throughout this long period he hasn't changed much.

Habitat - dense tropical forests. They try to stay away from settlements, as they are afraid of people. They are not so easy to see in the wild, because they live in the most remote parts of the forest, where it is very difficult for a person to get to.

The main condition for them is that there is some kind of reservoir nearby. It doesn't matter if it's a river or a lake. Generally water bodies play a huge role in the life of tapirs. They not only drink water from it, but also bathe regularly. Yes, swimming is their favorite pastime. They also regularly take mud baths. But most importantly, in the reservoirs they find protection from dangerous predators - tigers, leopards, jaguars.

The basis of the nutrition of this animal is grass and tree leaves. The tapir is very shy and nocturnal. During the day, he rests somewhere near the reservoir. At sunset, when the day turns into evening twilight, this animal comes out to feed.

Jaguar

The jaguar is a predatory animal of the cat family, one of the four representatives of the panther genus. The jaguar is the only representative of the genus in the Americas. It is the third largest in the world, and the largest feline in the New World.

Jaguars lead a solitary lifestyle. Jaguars are territorial animals, however, like all predatory cats. The territory of one jaguar can be from 25 to 100 square kilometers. It depends on the landscape and the amount of food on the territory, as well as the gender of the jaguar. Usually the hunting area of ​​the male resembles a triangle in shape. The male hunts for 3-4 days in a certain part of his territory, and then moves on to another. In addition, the animal visits certain "border points" of its territory every 10-15 days. On its territory, the jaguar shows extreme intolerance towards other felines (pumas, ocelots), but, oddly enough, it is quite peaceful towards its fellows and the hunting territories of jaguars often intersect.

The main food of jaguars is capybaras and ungulates, such as peccaries and tapirs. Just as often, birds, monkeys, foxes, snakes and rodents come across to him for dinner. A special delicacy for the jaguar is the turtle - the powerful jaws of a big cat are able to bite through the shell. Just as often, jaguars attack livestock. Unlike others big cats Jaguars are excellent swimmers, so they rarely miss a prey that tries to escape from them in the water. These animals have also been observed digging turtle eggs out of the sand on the ocean coast and fishing in streams and rivers. Jaguars have been seen attacking caimans.

howler monkey

howler monkeys- the largest representatives of the chain-tailed monkey family, otherwise called capuchins. Their main life activities take place in 2 types: feeding and roaring. Monkeys sleep at night. True, sometimes they roar in their sleep.

Seasoned males reach almost a meter in length. Their tail is the same size. It has a rather unusual appearance: in the lower tail part, on the inside, there is a plot without wool with patterns and scallops on the skin. Thanks to them, howler monkeys make such movements with their tail, as if it were extra hand. With the help of it, they grab and pluck fruits, leaves, gently and carefully “examine” their relative, caress the kids. The tail is so strong that it supports the weight of the animal's body when it hangs upside down.

The lower and upper limbs of howler monkeys have five tenacious movable fingers with flat nails. Looking at howler monkeys, first of all, you pay attention to the head with a hairless face and a beard. The enlarged laryngeal sac is also noteworthy. Their "clothing" looks like a black, brown, reddish, copper-red dense mane. Powerful fangs and jaws protruding forward make the individual quite scary.

This type of monkey is found in the humid forests of the mountainous parts of Central and Latin America. They live in large herds. Most often they can be seen on tall trees. After all, it is there that there is a huge amount of food in the form of buds, fresh succulent leaves, flowers, seeds, which are the basis of their nutrition.

Video