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15 rainforest facts | National Geographic Kids

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Join us here at Nat Geo Kids to discover 15 cool rainforest facts. Learn fascinating facts about the rainforest's trees, plants, people and more...

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Polar Bear Mom and Cubs | National Geographic

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Science - Types of Animal Habitat - English

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DK Find Out! | Fun Facts for Kids on Animals, Earth, History and more!

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Visit DK Find Out! to learn about dinosaurs, space, animals, nature & more. Fun learning activities for kids with videos, quizzes & galleries at DKFindOut.com

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Various Habitats

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Learn about the different natural environments of plants and animals.

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Depending on the amount of light reaching the ground through the tree canopy, there will be a great variety of other plants. These will include mosses, ferns and lichens, as well as small flowering herbs, grasses and shrubs. The more different kinds of plants there are, the greater the animal diversity will be in the woodland.

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" Woodland" is often just another name for a forest. Most of the time, though, geographers use the term to describe a forest with an open canopy. The canopy is the highest layer of foliage in a forest. It is made up of the crowns, or tops, of trees. An open canopy allows full sunlight to enter the woodland, limiting shade and moisture.

Woodlands are often transition zones between different ecosystems, such as grasslands, true forests, and deserts.

Woodlands that lead to grasslands are sparse. Grasslands, sometimes called prairies or savannas, are composed mostly of grasses and have few trees. The woodlands of Ethiopia border grasslands in the highlands of the Horn of Africa. Ethiopian woodlands are densely populated and contain some of the best agricultural land in the country. Organisms that live in the Ethiopian woodlands must be able to thrive in both the partly shady woodland and the open grassland. The critically endangered Walia ibex, a type of small mountain goat, is such an animal.

Woodlands can also transition to true forests, which are larger and have denser foliage and closed canopies. Eucalyptus forests, composed of the most common type of tree in Australia, are often surrounded by eucalyptus woodlands. The trees themselves are often the same, but woodland eucalyptus trees have fewer branches and are shorter than forest varieties.

Woodlands that border desert ecosystems are sometimes called xeric woodlands. ( Xeric means dry.) The succulent woodlands on the island of Madagascar, located off the southeast coast of Africa, are xeric woodlands. Succulent woodlands are full of cactus-like plants that are adapted to hot, dry climate s.

Writers

Kim Rutledge
Melissa McDaniel
Diane Boudreau
Tara Ramroop
Santani Teng
Erin Sprout
Hilary Costa
Hilary Hall
Jeff Hunt

Illustrators

Tim Gunther
Mary Crooks, National Geographic Society

Editors

Kara West
Jeannie Evers, Emdash Editing

Educator Reviewer

Nancy Wynne

Producer

Caryl-Sue, National Geographic Society

Sources

Dunn, Margery G. (Editor). (1989, 1993). "Exploring Your World: The Adventure of Geography." Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society.

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" Woodland" is often just another name for a forest. Most of the time, though, geographers use the term to describe a forest with an open canopy. The canopy is the highest layer of foliage in a forest. It is made up of the crowns, or tops, of trees.

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What are forest and woodland habitats?

Forests and woodlands are places where there are mostly trees. There are many different kinds of forests in different climates, but trees are the one thing they have in common!

Forests provide everything that the creatures who live there need - food, water and shelter. Forests can be hot or cold, with different kinds of trees in different climates around the world. There are deciduous forests, coniferous forests, and rainforests - just to name a few!

Top 10 facts

1. The main thing to know about forest and woodland habitats is that they are areas that have a lot of trees pretty close to each other.

2. Woodlands are a little more open than forests - woodlands have space to let a bit of light in between trees, while forests have so many trees that it's actually pretty dark when you walk around.

3. Trees can grow pretty much anywhere in the world, as long as it's in a spot that has enough water for them. Because of that, forest habitats can be very different depending where in the world they are.

4. There are many different kinds of trees, but a couple of the main groups are coniferous trees and deciduous trees.

5. Coniferous trees are trees that produce seeds in cones, like pine trees and spruce trees (Christmas trees!)

6. Deciduous trees are trees that lose their leaves in the winter, but grow them back in the summer.

7. Fruits and nuts found in the forest make a perfect meal for animals who live there, so they don't have to search too far to find food.

8. Forests also provide shelter for animals, whether it's within the tree roots or trunks, or high up in the branches.

9. Animals that live in forests and woodlands include big animals like bears, moose and deer, and smaller animals like hedgehogs, raccoons and rabbits.

10. Because we use trees to make paper, we need to be careful about what that does to forest habitats. One way to care for forests is to recycle paper.

Did you know?

Forest and woodland habitats are places that have a lot of trees. If you can see more trees around you than patches of grass and open spaces, chances are you're in a forest!

Trees grow pretty much everywhere, but not all trees are the same. Two main groups of trees are:

Coniferous - conifers are trees that grow cones and have thin, needle-like or scaly spikes for leaves, which is where their seeds are stored; pine trees, fir trees and spruce trees are conifers (and they are the kind of trees that we decorate at Christmas!)

Deciduous - deciduous trees have flat leaves that change colours in the autumn, fall off in the winter, and grow back in the spring; oak trees and maple trees are deciduous

You'll mostly find forests of conifer trees along the northern parts of the world. These are also called boreal forests.
Conifer leaves stay green all year round, so they are also called evergreens (meaning 'always green').

Coniferous forests have short summers and long winters, so animals there need to be able to keep warm for a long time. Some birds and butterflies go south, and some animals hibernate, which means they sleep during the coldest times of the year.

Deciduous forests are dotted all over the place, but mostly along the eastern side of North America, central and northern Europe, and northeast Asia. These forests look very pretty in the autumn when all the leaves change from green to red, orange and yellow.

Deciduous forests don't provide much shelter in the winter because all the leaves are gone from the trees. So, animals need to store up enough food for the winter, or hibernate.

Conkers are the seeds of a deciduous tree called a horse chestnut tree.

Acorns are the seeds of a deciduous tree called an oak tree.

Animals and insects who live in forest and woodland habitats rely on the trees to give them what they need - shelter, food, and protection from other creatures higher up the food chain. They also use the streams and ponds within forests to get water and (if they're the sort of animal that eats them) fish.

Animals in grasslands have to work really hard to make shelters for themselves in the ground or find places to hide in tall grass. But, animals in forests can hide inside dead trees, around tree roots, or climb way up into the tree branches.

One way we can help care for forest and woodland habitats is to recycle paper! We get paper from trees, so the more paper we can recycle (which means making new paper from old paper), the fewer trees have to be cut down to make new paper.

You often find forests on the slopes of high mountains, but when it gets too high up the mountain and it gets too cold, the forests stops all at once. This is called the tree line. Above this line there often aren't many plants at all - just snow and rocks.

Forest and woodland gallery:

A map showing where you can find coniferous forests

A map showing where you can find most of the forests of deciduous trees around the world (in dark green)

The food chain in a coniferous forest

The food chain in a deciduous forest:

A conifer forest

Conifer leaves

A deciduous forest

Black bear

Moose

Porcupine

Great grey owl (it looks like the branch it's sitting on!)

Siberian tiger

Hedgehog

Opossum

Leaves in autumn

Bluebells in UK woodland

Sunlight through the trees

Gallery

About

The words 'forest' and 'woodland' mean pretty much the same thing, but there is a tiny difference. A woodland has an open canopy, meaning if you stand in the middle of a woodland and look up at the sky, you can see a bit more sky than you can leaves and branches. Forests are much more dense (there are more trees, and closer together), and if you look up at the sky you'd only just see a little bit of it in the middle of all the tree branches.

Parts of a forest are:

The forest floor, which is where all the dead leaves and branches fall, where animals leave bits of their dinner and where mushrooms grow. It's sometimes called the recycling layer because it's where everything in the forest falls down, breaks down and becomes part of the ground again to help more plants and trees grow.

Looking up a little bit, you can see the herb layer, which includes all the ferns and flowers that grow along the forest floor.

A little above that is the shrub layer, which includes larger plants like bushes and shrubs that have woody twigs and branches.

The understory of the forest is all the trees that are still growing - they haven't reached the same height as most of the trees in the forest, but they're getting there.

The canopy is what we call the tree branches and leaves that join up with other tree branches and leaves nearby, forming something like an umbrella over the forest.

The emergent layer is what we call trees that poke through the canopy - they've just kept growing faster than the trees around them, and reached up over everything else.

The leaves of deciduous trees change colour because the trees are getting ready for winter. As the weather gets colder in the autumn months, there is less light and water for trees. They begin to slow themselves down in preparation for cold winter months and stop producing food ( photosynthesis). As green chlorophyll leaves the leaves, all that's left are the red, orange and yellow colours we see around the month of October. The leaves die and fall off the tree, but the tree will grow more leaves when the weather warms up in the spring so it can start making food again.

When spring comes in deciduous forests, plants shorter than trees (like flowers on the forest floor) grow very quickly to make sure they get enough light before leaves start growing on the trees, which will stop most of the sun's rays from coming into the forest.

The leaves on conifer trees don't fall off in the winter - they stay on all year long. They are dark green because this helps them get the most energy from the sun even if there's not a lot of light.

Some of the animals that you'll find in coniferous forests are:

Some of the animals that live in deciduous forests include:

Some of the insects you'll find in coniferous forests include:

Some of the insects you'll find in deciduous forests are:

Some of the trees and flowers in coniferous forests are:

Douglas fir tree

Ponderosa pine tree

Redwood tree

Saskatoon berry shrub

Thimbleberry bush

White spruce tree

Some of the trees and flowers in deciduous forests are:

Words to know:

Acorn - the seed of an oak tree
Boreal - forests of conifer trees in the northern parts of the world
Cone - what conifer trees have instead of flowers; cones hold their seeds so they stay safe until they are ready to try to grow
Coniferous - trees that have spiky or scaly leaves that stay green all year round
Deciduous - trees that have broad, flat leaves that change colour in the autumn and fall off in the winter
Hibernation - a long sleep that animals take in the winter to save up energy and warmth

Related Videos

Just for fun...

Children's books about forest and woodland habitats

Find out more about forest and woodland habitat:

See for yourself

Find woodland near you and explore it!

Look at a beautiful collection of different kinds of tree bark from Roby Milling's countryside blog

Brilliant woodland activities to try, including building a dam, making a rope swing and blackberry picking
Walk in a virtual forest in the UK
On the Woodland Trust's YouTube channel you can see a playlist featuring videos of A Year in the Life of lots of different trees

Birdwatch in the forest and track what you see

Consult the Ancient Tree Inventory and see if there are any very old trees near where you live

Explore temperate forests in Arizona and Colorado in the USA and move between summer, fall, and winter seasons, all in virtual reality

Also see

Give your child a headstart

FREE articles & expert information

FREE resources & activities

FREE homework help

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Fascinating facts, did-you-knows, picture gallery, videos, just for fun and more all about forest and woodland habitats

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Look up various habitats

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Copyright © 2018 Discovery Education. All rights reserved. Discovery Education is a subsidiary of Discovery Communications, LLC.

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Exploring the Arctic for Kids: Arctic Animals and Climates for Children - FreeSchool

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With its naturally extreme temperatures, the arctic truly is the last great escape for many wonderful species.

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Arctic facts

1. The Arctic is located at the northernmost part of our planet. Scientists usually define the Arctic as the area above the ' Arctic Circle' - an imaginary line that circles around the top of the globe.

2. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, the USA, Greenland, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Iceland.

Did you know that we have a FREE downloadable North and South Pole primary resource? Great for teachers, homeschoolers and parents alike!

3. Because of the Earth's tilt, for at least one day a year there's an entire day of darkness in this freezing region - and also a full day of sunshine. Imagine that!

4. Temperatures as low as - 70°C have been recorded in northern Greenland. Brrrrr!

5. Despite the freezing-cold temperatures, approximately four million people call this wintery wonderland home! Amongst these are the indigenous people of the Arctic, called the ' Inuits '. They've found ingenious ways to survive in one of the harshest environments on our planet.

6. In 1958, a submarine called the USS Nautilus sailed beneath the frozen ice of the Arctic Ocean. This was proof that the enormous ice sheet rests on water and not land.

7. The Arctic is home to lots of wonderful wildlife, including polar bears, Arctic foxes, walruses, seals and whales!

8. One fascinating species found only in the Arctic is the narwhal, often referred to as the 'unicorn of the sea'. Why? Well, male narwhals have a straight tusk projecting from the front of their head that can grow to over 3m in length!

9. The word 'Arctic' comes from the Greek word for bear, . But this isn't because of the polar bears! It's believed the name refers to two constellations that can be seen in the northern sky - 'Ursa Minor' (Little Bear) and 'Ursa Major' (Great Bear).

10. The ice of the Arctic contains around ten percent of the world's fresh water. This giant, white, frozen reservoir reflects sunlight, helping keep the region cool. It also plays a super-important role in keeping our global climate stable.

Did you know that we have a FREE downloadable polar bear primary resource? Great for teachers, homeschoolers and parents alike!

Images: Getty

What did you make of our Arctic facts? Let us know by leaving a comment, below!

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10 facts about the Arctic | National Geographic Kids

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1. The Arctic is located at the northernmost part of our planet. Scientists usually define the Arctic as the area above the ' Arctic Circle' - an imaginary line that circles around the top of the globe. 2. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, the USA, Greenland, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Iceland.

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Various Habitats - Sign in

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The oceans hold about 96.5% of all of Earth's water and is one of the most amazing places on earth!
Bursting with wildlife and teeming with mysteries to be solved, we've still only explored a tiny fraction. Take a deep breath, gang, as we dive into our ocean facts!

Top ten ocean facts

1. Around 70% of the Earth's surface is covered by oceans.

2. The largest ocean on Earth is the Pacific Ocean, covering around 30% of the Earth's surface.

3. The name "Pacific Ocean" comes form the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea".

4. The deepest known area of the Earth's oceans is known as the Mariana Trench. It's deepest point measures 11km. That's a long dive down!

5. The world's oceans are home to incredible creatures that are masters of disguise! Take a look for yourself...

Did you know that we have a FREE downloadable ocean ecosystems primary resource? Great for teachers, homeschoolers and parents alike!

6. The longest mountain range in the world is found under water. Stretching over 56,000km, the Mid-Oceanic Ridge is a mountain chain that runs along the centre of the ocean basins.

7. About 70% of the oxygen we breathe is produced by the oceans.

8. The sea is home to the world's largest living structure - the Great Barrier Reef. Measuring around 2,600km, it can even be seen from the Moon!

9. We have only explored about 5% of the world's oceans. There's a lot more to be discovered!

10. The sea can be described as the planet's mega museum. There are more artefacts and remnants of history in the ocean than in all of the world's museums combined!

Pretty amazing, huh?

Did you know that we have a FREE downloadable Plastic Pollution primary resource, all about protecting our oceans and sea life? Great for teachers, homeschoolers and parents alike!

Video: TED2007
Photos: Getty Images UK

Did you enjoy our ocean facts? Let us know which one was your favourite by leaving a comment below!

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The oceans hold about 96.5% of all of Earth's water and is one of the most amazing places on earth! Bursting with wildlife and teeming with mysteries to be solved, we've still only explored a tiny fraction. Take a deep breath, gang, as we dive into our ocean facts! 1.

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Watery Habitats

Temperature, ocean depth, and distance from the shore determine the types of plants and animals living in an area of the ocean. These regions are called habitats.

Coral reefs are one type of habitat. When tiny animals called polyps die, their skeletons harden so other polyps can live on top of them. Then those polyps die, and more move in. After thousands of years, this becomes a complex structure called a coral reef that provides food and shelter for many kinds of ocean animals. In fact, corals reefs have been called the rainforests of the sea because of the wide variety of animals found there. Animals such as seahorses, clownfish, and sea turtles all live on coral reefs. And corals themselves are animals! They grab food from the water using tiny tentacle-like arms.

Kelp forests found along the coastlines of the Pacific and Antarctic Oceans also provide food and shelter for marine life. These large, brown, rubbery plants have hollow, globe-shaped growths on the leaves called pneumatocysts that help the plants rise to the surface. Sea lions, whales, shore birds, and other ocean animals make meals of the smaller critters that hide in the leaves.

Other ocean habitats aren't actually in the ocean, such as estuaries. Estuaries are areas where rivers and oceans meet and have a mix of saltwater and freshwater. Oysters, crabs, and many birds like great herons and egrets live in estuaries.

Scientists estimate that we've only explored 5 percent of the ocean. Maybe you'll be the next person to discover a new species of fish or a deeper underwater trench!

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Watery Habitats Temperature, ocean depth, and distance from the shore determine the types of plants and animals living in an area of the ocean. These regions are called habitats. Coral reefs are one type of habitat. When tiny animals called polyps die, their skeletons harden so other polyps can live on top of them.

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Rainforests play an invaluable role in sustaining life, but every year, large portions of them are cut down for logging, mining, and cattle ranches.

Found on every continent except Antarctica, rainforests are ecosystems filled with mostly evergreen trees that typically receive high amounts of rainfall. Tropical rainforests are found near the equator, with high average temperatures and humidity, while temperate rainforests lie mostly in coastal, mountainous areas within the mid-latitudes.

A rainforest is typically made up of four key layers: emergent, upper canopy, understory, and forest floor. In the top emergent layer, trees as tall as 200 feet (60 meters) grow far apart and tall, their branches reaching above the canopy. The upper canopy, a deep layer of vegetation roughly 20 feet (6 meters) thick, houses most of the rainforest's animal species and forms a roof that blocks most light from reaching below.

Below the canopy, the understory is a low-light layer dominated by shorter plants with broad leaves, such as palms and philodendrons. On the dark forest floor, few plants are able to grow and decaying matter from the upper layers is prevalent, feeding the roots of the trees.

Why "rain" forests?

Rainforests are often partly self-watering. Plants release water into the atmosphere through a process called transpiration. The moisture helps create the thick cloud cover that hangs over most rainforests. Even when it's not raining, these clouds keep the rainforest humid and warm.

Rainforest loss

Deforestation is endangering rainforests worldwide, driven by logging, mining, agriculture, and ranching. About 17 percent of the Amazonian rainforest has been destroyed over the past 50 years, and losses recently have been on the rise. Tropical rainforest now covers about six percent of Earth's land surface.

Two countries accounted for 46 percent of the primary (meaning old-growth, undisturbed) tropical rainforest loss in 2018: Brazil, which is home to more than half the Amazon, and Indonesia, where forests are cut down to make way for producing palm oil, which can be found in everything from shampoo to saltines. In other countries, such as Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Democratic Republic of the Congo, loss rates are rising considerably. In many cases, such as logged areas, the soil damage makes it difficult for rainforests to regenerate, and the biodiversity found in them is irreplaceable.

Rainforest benefits

When we lose rainforests, we lose an important natural resource. Tropical rainforests are centers of biodiversity, holding an estimated half of the world's plants and animals, many of which have yet to be catalogued (some scientists estimate that it's two-thirds of the world's plants). Rainforests produce, store, and filter water, protecting against soil erosion, floods, and drought.

Many of the plants found in rainforests are being used to make medicine, including anti-cancer drugs, along with beauty products and foods. One drug under development for treating HIV, Calanolide A, is derived from a tree discovered on Malaysian Borneo. And Brazil nut trees refuse to grow anywhere but in undisturbed sections of the Amazon rainforest. There, the trees are pollinated by bees that also visit orchids, and their seeds are spread by agoutis, small tree mammals. Rainforests are also home to endangered or protected animals such as the Sumatran rhino, orangutans, and jaguars.

Forest trees also absorb carbon, an important function needed as human-caused greenhouse gas emissions stoke climate change. Rainforest loss is a double-whammy for the climate: It contributes emissions while removing a future potential source of carbon storage. Human activity has caused tropical rainforests to emit more carbon dioxide than they absorb at this point, according to one study.

Rainforest protection

Organizations and governments around the world are engaged in trying to protect rainforests. In Indonesia, notes Global Forest Watch, primary forest loss in 2017 dropped to its lowest rate since 2003 after the government enacted policies to protect certain areas.

Conservation groups, activists, and indigenous communities also play an important role. National Geographic Explorer Topher White, for example, has come up with a way to use recycled cell phones to monitor for chainsaws, while other groups, including the Rainforest Action Network and Conservation International, are working to monitor forests and create economies that thrive by protecting these ecosystems rather than destroying them, such as local tourism and sustainable products. In Brazil, thousands of indigenous people have staged demonstrations to reinforce their claim to threatened lands, arguing that they are often better stewards of rainforests and the wildlife they contain than national governments. Other efforts focus on reforestation, planting trees and reintroducing wildlife-in the Amazon, for example, a large-scale project announced in 2017 aims to plant 73 million trees.

You can help too. Support conservation efforts, consider ecotourism vacations, and look for sustainable products and meats where possible, using certifications and ratings from nonprofit groups such as the Forest Stewardship Council, the Rainforest Alliance, and the World Wildlife Fund.

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Rainforests play an invaluable role in sustaining life, but every year large portions of them are cut down for logging, mining, and cattle ranches.

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Science Facts for Kids | Deserts and Semi Deserts | The Kids Pool

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he hot desert is a land of extremes: extreme heat and extreme dryness; sudden flash floods and cold nights. Because deserts are such a harsh environment, deserts often have names likes "Death Valley," "the empty quarter," and "the place from where there is no return."

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RainforestAnimals.net and TundraAnimals.net for great information about animals of the rainforest. Thank you for visiting and we hope you enjoy our reference to desert animals.