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One of the most distinctive features of tropical rainforests is their biological richness, particularly with regards to numbers of species. The diversity of plant species here is the highest on earth with some experts estimating that one square kilometer may contain over 75,000 types of trees and 150,000 species of plants, constituting the largest collection of living plants and animal species in the world. One in five of all the birds in the world live in Amazon rainforests.
A typical four-square-mile patch of tropical rainforest contains up to 1,500 species of flowering plants, 750 tree species, 125 mammal species, 400 bird species, 100 reptile species, 60 amphibian species, and 150 butterfly species.
Rainforest Birds
During the past seven years, 570 species have been recorded in the Kapawi area. This number includes the seasonal migrants from Patagonia or North America. Though everyone wants to see toucans, macaws and parrots, these and many others birds cannot be seen until they fly out across a river or other forest gap or gather in the mornings at our NATURAL parrot saltlick. However, many hawks, kingfishers, orioles, flycatchers and anis can be easily spotted or you can walk in the forest to look for shy and inconspicuous ant birds, tinamous, manakins, and puffbirds. And once in a while even a harpy eagle or fiery topaz hummingbird may present itself as a rare surprise!
Rainforest Mammals
As you walk through the rainforest, you may be overwhelmed by the silence that belies the existence of around 200 species of mammals. Understanding that most rainforest mammals are hard to find because they are mostly shy, nocturnal and well camouflaged. If you are searching for these animals, some patience, luck and a good guide will allow you to see them.
Rainforest Amphibians
Some people find amphibians sluggish and slimy while others find them active, beautiful and harmless. However you feel about them personally, frogs and salamanders provide a fascinating glimpse into our evolutionary past; amphibians were the very first vertebrates to live on land and still need water to reproduce. To adapt to life on land with this limitation, they filled a myriad of ecological niches such as streamsides, lagoons, temporary ponds and even the wet forest floor or the water-filled leaves of both arboreal and terrestrial bromeliads. Today, amphibians are diverse and abundant terrestrial vertebrates and are at peak biodiversity in the lowland tropical rainforest.
Rainforest Reptiles
Reptiles are relatively abundant but tough to see as they often hold perfectly still when aware of our presence, or silently retreat into the leafy forest floor in order to avoid a confrontation. They have relatively dry scaly skin and waterproof eggs that enable them to utilize many different habitats, and can take in all the water they need from their food. Their slow metabolism allows them to reduce water and food requirements. Distribution and activity is limited because they are 'cold-blooded'; when they need to warm up, they bask in the sun and to cool down they seek shade (useful clues on when and where to look for them!). Around Kapawi you will find land reptiles like snakes, lizards and tortoises as well as aquatic reptiles like caimans (a small cousin of the alligator) and river turtles.
Rainforest Insects and other Invertebrates
most people dislike creepy-crawlies; many find insects and spiders repulsive, scary, or simply uninteresting. Your visit to the rainforest will change your point of view! You can appreciate the exquisite color and form of butterflies and moths along with the beauty of invertebrates (creatures without a backbone) and the interrelationship between insects and other rainforest organisms, especially plants. Recent studies of rainforest canopies indicate that there could be as many as 30 million insect species. More than half of every living thing that exists on the planet is an insect (compare to mammals, at a mere 4%). Insects recycle nutrients, maintain soil structure and fertility, pollinate plants, disperse seeds, control populations of other organisms and are a major food source for birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, other insects...even carnivorous plants. However, we know more about rocks on the moon than about forest insects. Even though we may sometimes wish that there were no mosquitoes and the like, we have to understand that without them and other insect's life on earth would quickly collapse to simple plants and microbes and the rainforest would not exist.
Rainforest Plants
A tropical rain forest is characterized by the lack of grasses and sedges between the trees. The forest floor is covered with shrub-like, herbaceous plants and vines because of the lack of light. Leaves of tropical plants are characteristically oval and they often possess sharply pointed ends, called drip tips, which help to facilitate rainwater runoff.
Red, orange and yellow flowers are associated with bird-pollinated plants (particularly by hummingbirds), while blue and lavender flowers are commonly bee-pollinated. Some trees produce fragrant white flowers that attract bats or moths at night. Bees, beetles, flies and butterflies mostly pollinate small white and yellow flowers. Of course, while various insects are more attracted to particular colors and odors, any insect could visit any flower if have nectar.
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