Tropical Rainforest 

11/17/10

     Here is an emperor tamarin.

11/13/10

     This morning Maia and I were watching the sunrise together and she told me "more are coming". I asked her what she meant by that, and she said more from her tribe were coming because it turns out Maia's old tribe's chief died a day before she came, and the rest of the tribe was falling apart without him. She told me a couple of her friends sent her a note today along the "mail river" we use, and they said:

      This made me excited because I am still new to the rainforest so I didn't have many friends. My luck was going good today because I met a nice girl from our tribe that I never knew before named Mary Frances. Mary Frances had been in the rainforest a little while longer then me so she told me that there are rainforest dingoes! I always thought they were found only in deserts! There are only rainforest dingos in Australia. It is said Australian traders brought them over and the wild dogs soon became a dominate predator all over Australia. The rainforest dingo is rare, and is a lot like a wolf. They are smaller then wolves though, being 22-53 pounds, standing 17-25 inches to the shoulder, and 34-48 inches long. Rainforest dingoes are usually a ginger color but it can be different. Rainforest dingoes have eract ears to help them hear prey. Mary Frances told me she used to live in the Australian rainforest and one time saw a couple and took a picture of one of them.

     Here is the rainforest dingo Mary Frances saw! They look cute don't they! FYI: This is not a domestic dog!

     This is the sunrise Maia and I saw! Isn't it beautiful! It was even more beautiful with my own eyes. Also, good news, Zia, Britt, and Alyson got accepted in! And they are in our cabin! Also, Mary Frances decided to move to our cabin.

     Overall I have had a good day, I met 4 friends and had a blast learning even MORE about the rainforest! Also, Mary Frances took Maia, Zia, Britt, Alyson, and I to her "relaxing spot". She said sometimes (like today) rainbows appear.

     This is MF's and now our relaxing spot.

11/12/10

     I have been SUPER busy these past 3 days because we decided to move camp. While we were moving Maia and I saw an injured toucan, we had no idea what happened to it so we took it to our tribe's medicine man, there we knew it would be in good hands. I decided to call the bird Toco, the next day we figured out it was just a chipped wing, a tribe might have accidently shot him. That next day he flew off. Maia and I saw him fly high in the sky, so we decided to follow him. He actually led us to his flock. We couldn't explore into that rainforest because it was across the river, I was kinda glad because it made a great picture. Even though Toco was fine, it made me think of all the animals that I had left that might suffer because of all the dangers in the rainforest... so here are a couple pics that I thought were cute, and helpful

HELP US! Here is the first picture. This applies to all biomes so I hope you see one of the animals in there.

Plant a tree for me!:^) You might think... "oh it's just one tree that doesn't make a difference."  Well it does, it can save hundreds of lives even yours when it gets down to "oh one tree, two trees, 5 billion trees!" It's the air you breathe, and the animals we love, savor it while it lasts.

Now here are some of my sightings

     Here is the rainforest picture from across the river, I think you see now why Maia and I wanted to explore it so bad! It is a beautiful and lucky thing that we get to see.   

     I also saw a tree kangaroo and decided to keep it.  I named it Teddy because it looks like a teddy bear.

Here is Teddy! Isn't he just a cuddle bear! He is a young brown and mustard color with a white snout. Tree kangaroos get their name for hanging in trees, their great ability to leap to get to places quicker, and females also have a pouch to carry their young, just like a kangaroo.

     Later, Maia and I went high up on a hill, while we had our binoculars on, and we saw a beautiful trpoical bird flying over the forest.

     Here is our house. Not very luxurious but we mainly go in our house to sleep and eat, if even. No trees even had to get cut down. There are more houses like this in a circle.

     Here is a our tribe chief fishing with his big bow-and-arrow. I thought I would show you this because today I learned how to make one myself! Now I can repair the arrows and the bow and go fishing whenever I get hungry.

11/7/10

     Today we accepted in a new member into our tribe. She kept calling the rainforest the jungle! I know you might think the jungle is a rainforest, but... THINK AGAIN!!! The rainforest and the jungle surprisingly have a lot of differences. First of all, rainforests has a very thick canopy of trees so not much vegetation can live below because of the lack of sunlight. On the other hand, jungle floors usually have a thick undergrowth of vegetation.  Another difference is location, rainforests are found between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, which are on the sides of the equater, and jungles are located in India and the surrounding countries. Though, jungles also can be located around some rainforests. There is little climate difference, jungles have less rainfall then rainforests.  A big difference is actually dependency. We depend on rainforests for water, oxygen, medicine, and lots more. We merely depend on jungles.  The really weird difference I personally think is jungles are sometimes man-made!!!  Rainforests have been around way longer than humans, as now you know jungles had to be made by humans. What I mean when I say "man-made" is sometimes when rainforests are partially cleared it makes more light for vegetation, this can make a jungle.

     Later the girl, Maia settled in and Maia and I explored the great beauties of the rainforest. ;^) 

11/6/10

     Today I was walking past the Amazon Basin and saw a beautiful tropical fish! It was so pretty.  When you think of the rainforest you don't think of the water life.  Considering the Amazon Basin covers 40% of South America you might think if it's that big there has to be some life in there. Well there is...TONS!!!  The Amazon Basin has over 3,000 different species of fish.  And they are still growing. But fish isn't the only type of creature you will find in the Amazon Basin, you can find Amazon stingrays to pink dolphins!

Here is the Amazon Basin.

This is an Amazon catfish.

Here is a pink dolphin from the Amazon.

This is my personal favorite the Amazon stingray.

This is an Amazon piranha,  it has a very sharp

set of teeth and behind them are very powerful

muscles.

     Later today I also saw the tarsier hanging on a branch. The tarsier has the largest eyes relative to body size then any other creature.  Their eyes are so enormous that their eyes cannot move up down left or right.  Also, tarsiers can swivel their necks 180 degrees in each direction. Tarsiers fur is really soft and they have long padded fingers adapted to tree life, these fingers also help them grip on the tree. Though most nocturnal primates eat insects, the tarsier likes meat and has the vision, speed, and reflexes to catch small prey in pitch black darkness. The tarsier also has some great, strong, legs to jump 40 times the length of its body. The hind legs can be twice the head and body length. In fact, their name comes from the powerful ankle bones-the tarsals.  Another cool thing about tarsiers is they like to sing with a high-pitch voice, and in some species the males and females perform duets together.

Here is a tarsier.  Look at its padded fingers.

Here is a cute video... I really really REALLY hope you can see how big tarsiers eyes can get.

11/5/10

     Today I was walking through the torpical rainforest and I saw a chameleon! First I didn't see it because of its great adaptation to change color depending on their emotion.  There are over 100 different types of camillions.  They are some of the slowest lizard reptiles.  Chameleons have expanding tounges that are longer then their entire body that sticks to their preys tounge. Chameleons also have eyes that can look in two directions this helps them find prey.  There feet are also ideal for grabbing branches.

This is a very colorful chameleon.

Here is a chameleon catching its prey.  Little guy never saw it coming.

11/4/10

     Today I saw a really pretty dart frog in the tropical rainforest.  These dart frogs come in almost every color in the rainbow.  Did you know you can keep dart frogs as pets?  If you ever do, or see one I hope it sings and calls to you.  Although cute and little, some of them are poisonous.  Dart frogs are not poisonous to skin.  On the other hand, it is poisonous to cuts, scrapes, and of course NEVER put one in your mouth.  Some tribes, (not my tribe) dip their arrows in frog poison to make them deadly weapons.  The ones without the poison still have the color so that tricks predators into eating the dart frog.

Here is a colorful green and black dart frog.

This is a strawberry dart frog. (this one is poisonous!)

Here is a cute video of a dart frog calling.

11/3/10

     I was walking through the tropical rainforest today and saw humongous trees.  I really noticed the poor soil and how some roots that came out of the ground.  Since the tropical rainforest gets so much rain it wipes off a thin layer of soil called topsoil and all that's left is the laterite soil which is low in nutrients.  Since volcanoes give a lot of nutrients you could consider volcanoes actually being good.  I know it sounds weird but these tropical rainforests have very low nutrients and no volcanic activity.  Even though, these poor soils support huge, beautiful, luscious trees that live there.  Though, farmers that cut down trees to live there usually only get to live there for a few years because after the slash-and-burn process the soil cannot keep there crops growing so eventually farmers have to cut down more patches of trees. Also, these trees have solved the problem with the poor soil.  Most trees have roots that come out of the ground because they can absorb more nutrients then in the ground.

These are buttress roots you can see how they are coming out of the soil.

Here are some more rainforest roots

10/30/10

     I found some great tropical rainforest music here is a link to it http://www.pbs.org/wnet/africa/explore/rainforest/green_audio2.html I hope you enjoy!

     Some interesting facts about the tropical rainforest are...

• We lose 50 species of animals every day, 2 every hour
• Since everything in the tropical rainforest is so diverse scientists only know 2% of all the animals in the tropical rainforest (that is a VERY few!)
• Rainforests are home to more plants and animals than the rest of the world put together
• 1/5 of all medicines come from the tropical rainforest
• Rubber, paint, cosmetics, and gum come from the tropical rainforest
• 20% of all fresh water comes from the Amazon alone
• Rainforests once covered 14% of the Earth's land surface, now it's a mere 6%
• For every mahogany tree cut down, 28 other trees fall down by accident
• Trees of the rainforest hold 40% of ALL oxygen
• Estimated that 1.5 hectares of the tropical rainforest are cleared per second
• A typical four square mile patch of rainforest trees contain as many as 1,500 flowering plants, 750 species of trees, 400 species of birds and 150 species of butterflies
• Nearly 90 percent of the 1.2 billion people living in extreme poverty worldwide depend on forests for their livelihoods

10/29/10

     Today it was raining so much and so hard we all had to stay inside, so I decided to give you a great video that tells you about the Amazon Rainforest.  The rainforest in which I live.  It gives a lot of great info!  I hope you watch it and LOVE it like I do!

Don't worry it is DEFINATLEY not just about environmental issues, it is that and a LOT more. Hope you like it!!!

     Today despite the rain was really good we enjoyed some delicious fleshy fruit!  A cool fact for you to know is that rainforest people drink less water because the fruits contain a lot of water inside them. These fleshy fruits are produced by over 70% of the plants in the tropical rainforest. Having so much fruit in the tropical rainforests you probably wouldn't be surprised to know that these fleshy fruits also attract animals. The animals have adapted to the fruit by always leaving the seeds inside the fruit alone as they should be. Some seeds are poisonous. Other large seeds have chemicals in them that tastes terrible to the animals. Also, the fruit that want to be left untouched inside and out have thorns or stinging hairs.

10/28/10

     Today I came down with Malaria, Malaria is an infectious disease caused by a parasite that's transmitted by mosquitoes. The illness results in recurrent attacks of chills and fever, and it can be deadly.  Luckily, I have been using Quinine, a leaf from the cinchona tree.  It helped my fever go down and my chills have stopped I still have a little nausea.  Here are a couple pictures of Quinine.

A lot of medicines are just waiting to be discovered in the tropical rainforests, even cures for cancer, but if we keep destroying the rainforests we will never discover all these medicines, animals, or plants.

10/26/10

     Today I was exploring through the tropical rainforest and got some info on the layers of the tropical rainforest.         

Emergents:  The tallest layer of the rainforest.  The tallest trees are there, they are above the canopy

Canopy:  Most animals live in the canopy to get sunlight.  Made up of bunches of leaves canopies act like miniature solar panels.

Understory:  Very hot and damp, very still.  Have smaller trees such as fern trees, these trees often make a good spot for birds nests.  Also has a bunch of fruit

Forest floor: Not  much sunlight reaches the forest floor because canopies block it, very little animals and vegetation can survive on the forest floor.  

If you still want to know more about the layers of the rainforest this is a great website about the layers of a rainforest. http://www.srl.caltech.edu/personnel/krubal/rainforest/Edit560s6/www/whlayers.html  

10/24/10

         Today I found a great a video of many plants and animals in the tropical rainforest, there are other things too.                                     

      I also got some information from my tribe and a picture. 

     Tropical rainforests have been home to indians for a long time who have made cultures based on the environment in which they live. Great civilizations like the Mayas, Incas, and Aztecs have developed complex living styles. Living in the nature and lacking the technology to make and discover their environment, native people have learned to watch their surroundings and understand how the rainforest works. Over generations tropical rainforest people have learned the importance of taking care of the rainforest and have come to rely on fruits and other many things that rainforests can provide. As you see in the picture we sometimes wear a lot of colorful paint because we are Indians. Indian tribes apply War Paint, so do other people in war situations, we call it camouflage. the idea is the same, blend into the landscape and avoid detection. 

http://www.srl.caltech.edu/personnel/krubal/rainforest/Edit560s6/www/people.html If you want to know about some tribes you can go to this link.

10/22/10

     Today I saw a bunch of trees cut down for agriculture.  I saw a video and it tells a little bit about why tropical rainforests are endangered and other great info.  It is pretty long, but has great pictures. Hope you enjoy!

Here are a few ideas how to save the tropical rainforests:

• Learn more about tropical rainforests and the plants and animals, including people, which live there. Investigate the complex issues surrounding deforestation and possible solutions through further reading.
   
• Write letters to your congressional representatives or your local paper to express concern about the destruction of the tropical rainforests. The more you know about the topic and issues, the more specific you can be in suggesting actions you would like your elected officials to take. 

• Think globally and act locally. Practices at home, like the ones listed below, can have an impact on the preservation of rainforests.
   
• Recycling aluminum cans reduces the need for bauxite, which must be mined from the ground in tropical countries. Bauxite is the source of aluminum.
   
• Buy only pets which were captive bred here in the United States. Those which were not bred here may have been taken from the wild and imported illegally from tropical countries.
   
• When purchasing tropical woods for furniture or construction, investigate the source of the wood to determine whether it was grown in a sustainable manner 

In all things you do, practice the environmentally sound use and reuse of our resources. This will not only have a positive impact on the tropical rainforest but on all the ecosystems of the world.

I did some research today and found the cutest slender loris and margays, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

The slender loris is a small nocturnal primate that only lives in the tropical rainforest.  They prefer thick thorny vegetation where they can escape from predators easily.  The margay is a spotted agile cat that looks a lot like a cheetah but smaller.

10/21/10     

     Today I decided to explore the tropical rainforest.  There was a bunch of GIANT trees reaching up into the sky and thick canopies above so i didn't get much light.  I then saw a toucan right in front of me.  It was beautiful!  Luckily I took a picture of it before the rain came.  I knew it would have to come because of the big rain clouds hanging in the sky.  I quickly hurried back to my tribe.  Later when it stopped raining, my tribe and I went to block the path of bulldozers and chainsaw gangs.  When we were coming back I saw many animals, some were: brazillian tapir, bearded pigs, capybaras, chimpanzees, common tree shrews, crested guan, flying dragons, gorillas, indian cobras, orangutans, slow loris, and vine snakes.  I also took a picture of the flying dragon.