Have you read Rudyard Kipling’s classic The Jungle Book? Where is the jungle Kipling writes about? Find out!
A lot of our Blue Planet is green! Almost a third of the land is covered by forests. And there’s a lot more to them than just trees! Discover the wonders of forests in this brand new edition of Nature Nuggets.
Have you ever been to a forest? Take this stunning 360-degree virtual forest trail to experience the sights and sounds of forests. Let’s explore what makes forests so phenomenal with some fantastic facts!
Forests are teeming with life. More than half of the Earth’s terrestrial biodiversity is found in forests.
Tropical forests take up only 10% of the land but support at least two-thirds of the world’s biodiversity.
Forests are oxygen generators, regulators of rainfall and climate and carbon dioxide-absorbing champions that help fight climate change! Tropical forests hold seven times more carbon than the amount emitted by human activities each year.
The Amazon rainforest, the world’s largest rainforest, absorbs a quarter of the total carbon that forests absorb every year.
The deep, dark forests hold many secrets we’re yet to uncover, including species previously unknown. For example, 381 new species were discovered in the Amazon rainforest between 2014 and 2015!
The Elfin mountain toad (Ophryophryne elfina) was discovered in the foggy, moss-covered elfin mountain forests of Vietnam in 2017.
Trees in a forest share nutrients and communicate with each other using underground networks referred to as the ‘Wood Wide Web’.
Forest mushrooms, including edible species, are connected to the trees.
Forests ensure food, water, fuel, shelter and sources of livelihood for millions. Amazingly, forests can make us healthier too! Simply spending time in forests is good for us too! Click here to learn more.
Forests host several plants with medicinal compounds, including those used in anti-cancer drugs.
The world’s forests are under severe threat from deforestation and degradation. We’ve lost 10% of the total forest area on Earth in just 30 years!
Many products we use every day have ingredients sourced from forests. Watch this video to find out how our choice of products impacts forests.
In 2022, deforestation of the Amazon rainforest reached a six-year high.
The good news is we can restore the world’s forests while still using them sustainably. Watch this video to find out how.
Common Name: Brown-throated Sloth
Scientific Name: Bradypus variegatus
The brown-throated sloth is a type of three-toed sloth found in forests of Central and South America, including the Amazon rainforest. The word ‘sloth’ is often used to describe laziness. But the sloth’s extremely slow pace of movement isn’t sluggishness—it’s a survival skill. Sloths have a leaf-based diet that is very low in nutrients and calories. A low metabolic rate and slow movements help them to conserve energy.
Read the story Jungle Jigsaw to learn more about the sloth, the Amazon rainforest and how our choices can have an impact on ecosystems far away.
Time to check your Nature Quotient!
QUIZ
Previous edition answer: Snails, oysters and garden slugs—all three are related to the blue dragon. They are invertebrates with soft bodies which may or may not be enclosed in shells, which is why they are all molluscs. The correct answer is d. All of the above.
Congratulations to everyone who guessed it right!
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