Imagine that you're in a thick, dark forest. It's very hot and sticky and the sweat soaks your t-shirt. You can hear the sound of wild animals all around you. From the trees above, birds and monkeys are calling. You hear the constant buzzing drone of insects. What was that?! A rustling and a grunt in the undergrowth near you makes you jump. Then thunder explodes almost overhead and the sound of heavy rain on the leaves above you drowns out all the other noises.You are in a rainforest - one of the most fascinating and diverse habitats on the planet!

Where in the world are they?

Rainforests are found across the world between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn (23.5 degrees north and south of the Equator). They occur in Asia, Africa, South America, Northern Australia and on many tropical islands. Put together, they cover about 6% of the planet?s land surface - about fifteen million square kilometres! But we?ve been destroying them fast. They used to cover about 15% of the earth?s land surface! The largest of all rainforests, the Amazon in South America, spans eight different countries and still covers an area of almost 5.2 million square kilometres.

 What's the weather like?

Well, perhaps unsurprisingly given their name, it rains a lot in the rainforest! Rainforests experience annual rainfall of at least 2.5 metres, with some receiving up to ten metres of rain each year. That?s as tall as the average house!

It?s hot and sticky too. Temperatures rarely fall below 20?C and can exceed 30?C, giving annual average temperatures of around 25?C. Humidity in the rainforest can reach up to 100%. As the sun is almost directly overhead throughout the year, there are no distinct seasons.

The lungs of the planet

Rainforests really do help the planet to breathe. During the day rainforests absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The trees and shrubs make their food using ?photosynthesis?, in which leaves absorb carbon dioxide from the air, combine it with water sucked up by the plant?s roots and with the aid of sunlight convert them into sugars. This provides the fuel the plants need to survive and as a by-product oxygen, which is released into the atmosphere.

 Rainforests help to maintain the global balance of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the atmosphere.

Although they emit carbon dioxide (CO2) at night, they emit less than they absorb, meaning that they help to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Even more importantly, they act as stores of carbon. The carbon contained within the trees is released as carbon dioxide when they are burned or even when they are left to rot. It is estimated that the remaining rainforests contain 1,000 billion tons of CO2.

Carbon Dioxide is a ?greenhouse gas?, which acts like a blanket around the planet, trapping heat within the Earth?s atmosphere. If the amount of CO2 in our atmosphere increases, it is likely that this will increase global temperatures, speeding up climate change. So protecting the rainforest is a way to lessen the impact of climate change on all of us.

Rainforests also help to cause regular rainfall in areas well beyond the forests themselves, preventing both floods and droughts.! This is because the clouds formed over the rainforests often travel far beyond the forests, giving many countries the fresh water they need for drinking and for growing crops. ! Destroying the rainforest can disrupt that rainfall and cause drought and crop failure many miles from the forests.