1. What are the two different types of rainforests?
Answer: tropical and temperate. Tropical rainforests are nearer to the equator and temperate rainforests are norther, near coastal areas.
2. True or false: it rains year-round in tropical rainforests.
Answer: true. Tropical rainforests are hot and moist.
3. What is the name of the largest rainforest in the world?
Answer: the Amazon Rainforest. It’s 28 times the size of the United Kingdom!
4. What are the eight countries that the Amazon Rainforest spans?
Answer: Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Venezuela, and Suriname. It also spans French Guiana, which is an oversees territory.
5. What percentage of South America is covered by the Amazon Rainforest?
Answer: 40%. It covers 6.7 million square kilometers.
6. How many billions of tons of carbon are stored in the Amazon Rainforest?
Answer: around 150-200 billion tons. This carbon sequestration is important for mitigating climate change.
7. How many tonnes of water can a single large Amazon tree release in the air each day?
Answer: more than 1000 litres! That could fill ten bathtubs.
8. What percentage of known species on Earth are found in the Amazon Rainforest?
Answer: 10%.
9. How many different plant species are found in the Amazon Rainforest?
Answer: around 40 000 species.
10. What is the second-largest tropical rainforest in the world?
Answer: the Congo Basin. It’s larger than the US state of Alaska!
11. Which six African countries does the Congo Basin span?
12. Two-thirds of the Congo Basin is found in which country?
Answer: the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
13. How many different tropical plant species exist in the Congo Basin?
Answer: around 10 000 species. Of these, 30% are unique to the region.
14. How many different butterfly species can be found in the Congo Basin?
Answer: around 900 species!
15. The Congo Basin is the world’s largest carbon sink, and it is nicknamed…?
Answer: the lungs of Africa. It holds even more carbon than the Amazon Rainforest!
16. How many people are dependent on the Congo Basin for food, water, and shelter?
Answer: over 75 million people.
17. Which three major world basins comprise 80% of the world’s tropical forests?
Answer: the Congo, Amazon, and Borneo-Mekong-South-East-Asia basins. They also encompass two-thirds of terrestrial biodiversity on Earth!
18. Which island is home to the world’s third largest rainforest?
Answer: New Guinea. New Guinea is made up of Papua New Guinea and the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Irian Jaya.
19. What is the name of the world’s largest intact temperate rainforest?
Answer: the Tongass National Forest. It is also the largest national forest in the United States.
20. Great Bear Rainforest is located in which Canadian province?
Answer: British Colombia. It spans 6.4 million hectares.
21. Great Bear Rainforest is also sometimes nicknamed…?
Answer: the Amazon of the North!
22. What is the name of the world’s oldest rainforest?
Answer: the Daintree Rainforest. It’s located in Australia.
23. Rainforests provide key habitats for what percentage of Australian plant species?
Answer: 60%. They also provide habitats for 40% of birds, 60% of butterflies, and 35% of mammals found in the country.
24. What percentage of Australian rainforests are considered UNESCO World Heritage Areas?
Answer: 32%.
25. How many millimeters of rain do rainforests receive on average each year?
Answer: 2000 to 10 000 millimeters. That’s up to 394 inches a year!
About the Author
Yasmin is a McMaster University graduate and Program Coordinator at SCIFAA. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Sustainable Chemistry and a Minor in Environmental Sciences.
SCIFAA 