Animals of the rainforest
Fish, reptiles, birds and insects also live in the rainforest and its rivers. Plants and animals need each other to survive. Insects pollinate the flowers of the rainforest. Animals get food from the flowers' nectar. Seeds from trees are often taken away by other animals and birds and dropped in faraway areas.
Piranha
The piranha is a fish that lives in the lakes and rivers of the Amazon valley. It has sharp teeth and attacks and eats other fish and water animals. In some cases, it even attacks humans. Piranhas have flat bodies and that grow up to 30 cm long.
Toucan
Toucans are typical birds of the tropical rainforests. They have big and long bills that are brightly coloured , so that they can attract other birds. The largest toucans can get up to 65 cm long. Most of them live in hollow trees.
Gorilla
Gorillas are the largest members of the ape family. They have huge shoulders, long arms and short legs. They may weigh up to 200 kg.
Gorillas live in Africa near the equator. Although most of them live in the lowlands, there are some highland types.
People have hunted gorillas for a long time . As a result, they have become very rare and only about 1,000 gorillas live in the wild today.
- although = while
- attack = if you want to damage or hurt an animal or a person
- attract = here : to make themselves interesting for other birds
- bill = the hard, pointed mouth of a bird
- equator = line around the middle of the earth which divides it into two halves
- hollow = an object with an empty inner part
- huge = very big
- nectar = the liquid that insects collect from flowers
- pollinate = to give a flower or a plant pollen - a fine, yellowy powder - so that it can produce seeds
- rare = here : not very many of them exist
- seed = small hard object, that is in a fruit or plant
- shoulder = part of the body between the neck and arm
- survive = live on after a dangerous situation
- valley = area of low land with a river flowing through it
- weigh = how heavy something is