Largest Tropical Forests
Tropical forests are located in three main regions close to the equator, in America, South Asia, and Africa. Other small tropical forests are located in Australia, Indian Ocean Islands, and Hawaii.
The Amazon Rain forest covers parts of Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam, French Guyana, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador. It spans 40% of South America.
The Amazon Rainforest is the largest forest in the world, with approximately half of the world's forest area, spanning 6.7x106Km2.
The forest is drained by the Amazon River, the world's largest river in terms of discharge, and the second longest river in the world. The Amazon has 4,100 miles (6598 Km) of rivers, and receives over 1,100 tributaries.
The Amazon River discharges over 209,000 cubic meters of water per second into the Atlantic.
The Amazon forest, holds at least 10% of the world's known biodiversity.
It is estimated that the Amazon Rainforest holds 40K plant species, 16K tree species, 3K fish species, 1.3K bird species, and 430+ mammal species. Source: Mongabay
Some well recognized animals from the Amazon Rainforest include the sloth, anteater, toucan, macaw, Amazon River Dolphin, capybara, giant river otter, jaguar, puma, tapir, squirrel monkey, spider monkey, Hoatzin, toucan, black caiman, anaconda, poison frogs and more.
There is no complete list of wildlife without the birds in the Amazon forest. For a complete guide, this is the best book in the topic and it is found on Amazon: A Guide to the Birds of Colombia. It focuses in one country but you will probably find it useful for South American birds in general.
There are many trees in the Amazon rainforest, but an easy recognizable tree is the Kapok. This tree belonging to the Malvaceae family is the tallest tree in the Amazon. In Spanish it is known as Ceiba. Kapoks grow to 240 ft (73 m) tall.
Asian Tropical Forests
The rain forests in Asia are centered in the Malay Archipelago. This area has the second largest tropical forest with 2.5x106Km2.
The forests are on scattered islands of Indonesia, the Malay peninsula (Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar), Laos, and Cambodia.
"The Southeast Asian rainforests are the oldest, consistent rainforests on Earth, dating back to the Pleistocene Epoch 70 million years ago." Source: Blue Planet
Millions of years ago when most of the planet went through a cooling period Southeast Asia remained warm due to its location. This and the melting of glaciers resulting in the formation of many islands in the region, contributed to amazing species diversification in the area.
Some scientists believe this forest has existed for over 100 million years.
The region has two monsoon seasons. The northeastern monsoon occurs from October to February and brings heavy rains. The southwestern monsoon is stronger and occurs from April to August. These monsoons cause a rain shadow over opposite sides of the islands and Malaysian peninsula, increasing its ecosystem diversity.
Distictive animals from South East Asia Tropical Forests include: orangutans, birds, tigers, Malayan tapir, and elephants.
If you are planning a trip to check some of the beautiful birds in the area, I suggest you get this book found on Amazon: The 125 Best Birdwatching Sites in Southeast Asia.
A dominant plant of this forest is Dipterocarpaceae. These trees can reach heights of 120ft (36m). Another distinctive plant is the tualang or Koompassia excelsa. This tree can reach heights of up to 280ft (85m). This is the third tallest tree species in the world.
Trees in this region flower or fruit at different times. Some once every three years, others every ten years. This is also because the lack of nutrients in the soil.
There is a strong link between plants and animals through mutualistic relationships which help trees pollinate. This is because very little wind flows in the dense tree canopy. Source: Blue Planet
Besides the expected problems from deforestation throughout the world, another problem became evident several years ago in Southeast Asia. When a tsunami hit South East Asia in 2004, the areas with 