My Science School

The jaguar (Panthera onca) holds many titles; The main predator in the Amazon, it’s also the largest big cat species in the Americas and the third largest feline in the world, after tigers and lions. This iconic species plays a vital role in its habitat by controlling other species’ populations and helping maintain a healthy ecosystem.

Unfortunately, the jaguar’s range has decreased by half in the last 100 years due to deforestation and agricultural activities, resulting in reduced and even extinct jaguar populations in some countries. Despite numerous conservation efforts, their populations continue to decline.

Human-driven activities including hunting, destruction of forest habitat, loss of prey species, and human-wildlife conflict are also impacting jaguar populations. Jaguars were once hunted for their pelts until the 1970s, when stricter laws and new protections prohibited such activity. Now it appears that with increasing Chinese investment in Latin America, demand for jaguar parts, like fangs and claws, is rising again, driving illegal jaguar hunting and poaching, even in strongholds like the Amazon.

Since 2017, WWF has been monitoring the populations of this emblematic species in the Napo-Putumayo Corridor—740,000 acres of forest (nearly the size of Yosemite National Park) that spans through Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

Between 2018 and 2019, WWF installed 129 camera traps in the region to conduct a census of jaguar prey species and better understand the area’s conservation value. As a result of our efforts, more than 30 jaguars have been identified with an estimated presence of at least 2,000 cats throughout the corridor.

“The jaguar has become a priority species for WWF,” said Jose Luis Mena, Director of Scientific Practice of WWF Peru. “We must ensure its conservation by forming alliances with other organizations and the government."

Credit : WWF

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Harpy Eagles are one of the world's largest and most powerful Eagles. Do you know their talons are as long as 3-4 inches -- the same size as a grizzly bear's claws.

Historically, Harpy Eagles were found from southern Mexico through Central and South America all the way down to northern Argentina. Sadly, Harpy Eagles are disappearing mainly because people are destroying their habitat and shooting them. In Central America, the largest known breeding population is found in Panama, close to the border with Colombia. Harpy Eagles are likely extinct in El Salvador. Only one nesting pair has been observed in Belize.

The Harpy Eagle is a Neotropical rainforest species. It lives at low elevations where it can find prey and large trees for nests. Its rainforest home is lush and vibrant and contains some of the highest biodiversity in the world. The Harpy Eagle lives among jaguars, macaws, tapir, monkeys, sloths, snakes, frogs, and many other plants and animals – each one playing an important role in its environment. While these eagles prefer large expanses of pristine forest, Peregrine Fund biologists have learned that they can survive in some habitats that have been altered by humans as long as there is enough to eat, they have tall trees to nest in, and people don’t harm them.

Credit : The Peregrine Fund

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Rainforests are impressively wet and humid ecosystems found from the tropics to the boreal zone, though they tend to be much more extensive in the equatorial latitudes. Although temperature and evaporation rates play significant roles in establishing the conditions for rainforest climate, average annual precipitation – and, specifically, quite a lot of it – is the defining environmental factor: certain rainforest zones rank among the very wettest places on Earth.

These equatorial rainforests – the largest within the Amazon Basin of South America and the second-largest in central Africa’s Congo Basin – typically receive more than 80 inches of rain per year, and this precipitation falls evenly across the calendar. Above the lowland rainforest on tropical mountainsides, and on the windward slopes of subtropical mountains, cooler, higher-elevation forms of rainforest – generally termed tropical montane rainforest – may develop. A sub-type called a cloud forest often forms the uppermost reach of rainforest at elevations between 1,300 and 9,200 feet or more depending on the setting; these ecosystems, commonly characterized by stunted trees cloaked in moss, ferns and other epiphytes (arboreal plants and lichens), typically receive on the order of 79 inches of rainfall.

The equatorial rainforests of the tropical-wet climate zone aren’t the very wettest forests in the tropics: they’re rivaled or even surpassed by the monsoon forests of the tropical-monsoonal zone, which typically receives 100 to 200 inches of rain per year. Temperate rainforests, when compared with tropical rainforests, require less precipitation to maintain high levels of humidity because of their colder temperatures. One widely used definition suggests temperate rainforest receives more than 55 inches of annual precipitation, while the exhaustive book, “Temperate and Boreal Rainforests of the World” defined a broad range of precipitation -- including the boreal variety -- of between 33 and 320 inches, with as much as 25 percent falling during the given location’s driest season.

Credit :  Sciencing 

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As nighttime approaches in a tropical rain forest in parts of Sumatra and Borneo in Asia, orangutans prepare for sleep. In forks of trees high off the ground, shaggy, red-haired apes bend branches down to form comfortable mattresses of leaves and twigs. They sometimes add a roof built from more branches, so that if it rains they will stay dry.

Equipped with very long, powerful arms and hook-shaped hands and feet, these apes climb and swing from tree to tree with ease. They reach from one tree to the next with their long arms, grasping the next branch with long hands or feet, and swing their bodies across the gap. If a baby following its mother reaches a gap between trees that is too wide for it to navigate, its mother makes a living bridge for the baby to scamper across. Sometimes heavier males can't find branches strong enough to hold their weight, so they climb down to get to the next suitable tree.

On the ground, orangutans walk on all fours. Orangutans find their food in the trees where they live. More than half their diet consists of fruit. They also eat nuts, bark, and other parts of plants and trees. Every once in a while they eat insects such as ants and termites, as well as bird eggs.

Orangutans find the water they need for drinking up in the trees—in hollows, on leaves, or even on their own fur after a rain. Trees are essential to every aspect of the orangutans' world. The cutting down of trees—deforestation—has landed this species on the endangered species list.

Credit : National Geographic 

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Tropical rainforests support the greatest diversity of living organisms on Earth. Although they cover less than 2 percent of Earth’s surface, rainforests house more than 50 percent of all plants and animals found on land.

The rainforest is home to many plants and animals. According to The Nature Conservancy, a 4-square-mile (2,560 acres) area of rainforest contains as many as 1,500 flowering plants, 750 species of trees, 400 species of birds and 150 species of butterflies. The Amazon rainforest alone contains around 10 percent of the world's known species. 

Just about every type of animal lives in rainforests. In fact, though rainforests cover less than 2 percent of Earth's total surface area, they are home to 50 percent of Earth's plants and animals, according to The Nature Conservancy. For example, rhinoceroses, deer, leopards, gorillas, chimpanzees, elephants, armadillos and even bears can be found living in rainforests across the world.

Some of the animals are also unusual. For example, the tapir is a mammal that looks like a mix between an anteater and a pig and can be found in the rainforests of South America and Asia. The stunning silverback gorilla lives in the rainforest of the Central African Republic. Forest giraffes, or okapi, a strange-looking cross between a horse and a zebra, also inhabit the African rainforest.

Credit : Live Science 

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Spiders remind us of two things: flimsy cobwebs, and little dangling legs that hang upside down on patterned threads.

The spider monkeys do the same! They can hang upside down by their tails that hold on to the branch and let their arms and legs dangle in the air!

The spider monkey is a New World monkey and dwells in the upper layers of the Central and South American rainforest canopies.

Its long and skinny limbs are disproportionate and add to its overall largeness in size. The highly dexterous prehensile (gripping) tails function as body balancers while shifting from one branch to another and aids in picking up small objects.

These tree-dwellers are social and diurnal and spend most of the day foraging on fruits, leaves, nuts, and sometimes insects and bird eggs.

The spider monkeys are sold for large amounts of money at the bushmeat market. Massive hunting, coupled with widespread logging, has deprived and driven them off from their natural habitat.

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Imagine you are trekking inside a dense forest, famished. Suddenly your nose catches the smell of buttered popcorn! Well, the chances of finding a bag of popcorn in the middle of the dense forest are extremely dim. But there can very well be a bearcat prowling somewhere right behind you!

The forest bearcat, also known as binturong, is a medium-sized, carnivore that inhabits the rainforests of Southeast Asia, especially India, Bangladesh, the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, and the Philippines.

They have prehensile tails that resemble the monkeys and their white whiskers and purring sound remind us of cats.

But what has popcorn got to do with them?

Binturongs mark their territories by leaving behind a trail of scent that smells very much like buttered popcorn!

It might sound gross, but a local coffee brewed from the beans that pass down its digestive system, also fetches good money.

Much of this animal’s characteristic behaviour has not been extensively observed. But it is known that they have a sweet tooth for fig fruits. They make good pets, thanks to their mostly gentle behaviour, unless provoked! Like most other endangered species, the Binturongs too, are under the threat of being wiped off from their natural habitat.

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The okapi is a wild animal with a serious ‘identity crisis’. Wondering why? Its face resembles that of a deer but it has striped markings that are reminiscent of a zebra. However, scientists call it neither a deer nor a zebra, but a ‘forest giraffe’. It is the only close living relative of the giraffes!

The okapis may be described in three words: endemic, diurnal and solitary. Endemic, because they are found only in the dense Ituri rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo; diurnal, because they are active mostly during the day; solitary, because they are always seen alone, except while breeding and playing.

The brown and white stripes found on its hind legs appear as penetrating streaks of sunlight and aids the Okapi to remain invisible from cheetahs and other predators.

Similar to that of cows and giraffes, the Okapis have four stomachs each. This facilitates the effective digestion of their highly fibrous and herbivorous diet of fruits, buds, leaves, and twigs. One can easily spot the males by their short horns. Females have knobby bumps instead.

Scientists fear that the past two years have witnessed a drastic 50 per cent decline in the total population of okapis, mainly due to natural predators and human hunting. The okapis are now categorized under ‘Endangered’, according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

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The island of Madagascar in Africa is best known for its colourful chameleons, orchids, unique flora and fauna and most importantly, its lemurs. The world’s largest nocturnal primate, the aye-aye, is one such lemur endemic to the island. Its natural habitat is rainforest but many now live in cultivated areas because of deforestation.

The aye-ayes are characterized by a distinctly long and thin middle finger and rodent-like teeth. Like the black howler monkeys, they avoid coming down from treetops and spend the daytime snuggled inside a ball-like nest made of leaves and branches.

Aye-ayes are great acoustic engineers! These avid ‘worm-eaters’ tap on tree trunks and listen carefully to the different echo patterns. This unique technique, called foraging, helps them spot the presence of wood-boring insect larvae within the empty hollows. With their middle finger, they gnaw holes into the bark and spoon out the grubs that make a happy meal.

It was Pierre Sonnerat, a French naturalist, who first used the vernacular name ‘aye-aye’ (resembling the Malagasy name ‘hay-hay’) given to this animal.

The aye-ayes are seen as evil harbingers of death by the superstitious natives of Madagascar. Ruthless slaughters of the aye-aye and deforestation practices have contributed to its decimation, giving it the ‘Endangered’ status by the IUCN.

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Have you watched Walt Disney’s animated film, Zootopia? If you have, then you might remember the annoyingly slow-moving sloth character who works at the Department of Mammal Vehicles?

Sloths are mammals known for their sluggish movements. They can either have two toes, or three, and have remarkably long claws.

Found in the rainforests of Central and South America, sloths sleep for 15 to 20 hours a day and spend most of their life hanging upside down on tree branches, thanks to their powerful claws! The grip of these claws is so powerful that even after the death of sloths; their lifeless bodies are often seen hanging on branches!

Sloths are excellent swimmers but on land, they are submissive and stand little chance against predators. Their hind legs are weak, and they move forward by dragging their bellies across the ground and digging each step using their front claws.

Apart from providing shelter, trees assure refuge and safety to sloths from predators, and supply nourishment through food - leaves, stems, and fruits. The symbiotic green algae that grows on its furry coat gives the sloth a camouflaged green appearance.

The word ‘sloth’ literally means ‘lazy’ and is synonymous with lazy people. So, next time, if anyone lovingly calls you a ‘sloth’, you need to think before you smile.

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Looks like it’s time for some serious ‘monkey talk’.

The black howler monkey is a unique herbivorous primate and is regarded as the largest among the New World monkeys (monkeys that are indigenous to the rainforests of the Americas). They are found to inhabit the tropical areas of Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina.

The black howler monkeys are known by that name because of two obvious reasons which are their black fur coat and their distinct howl. Males wear a black fur coat, while females parade a blonde one.

The howling of these monkeys is strong enough to penetrate the dense terrains of the forest and can be audible even 5 km away!

The howler monkeys have a limb structure that prevents them from an easy life on land. So they spend most of their lives on treetops. They are so inactive that they spend almost 70 per cent of the day sleeping and can rarely be seen running or leaping. However, their strong tails function as their fifth limb serving as a climbing aid. Essentially folivorous, they adore munching on leaves all the time, with occasional servings of fruits and flowers!

According to historians, the Mayans venerated these monkeys for their beauty and worshipped them as divine beings. The black howler monkeys constantly face threats from forest destruction. They are captured and killed mercilessly for their meat and taken as captives to be kept as zoo exhibits.

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Rainforests have a wide spectrum of varied landscapes and water bodies that are perfect places for both animals and plants. Apart from providing suitable living conditions for plants, rainforests set the perfect abode for reptiles, amphibians, and mammals as well. ‘Herp’ is a term used collectively for amphibians and reptiles.

Rainforests provide a wide range of living spaces, ranging from high rocks to elevated canopies and creeks. The most common reptiles found are lizards, turtles, tortoises, venomous snakes, and crocodiles, and the amphibians found in abundance are frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and worm-like caecilians.

The green basilisk, the common iguana, the pygmy stump-tailed chameleon, the spectacled caiman, etc. are a few of the millions of reptile species identified.

Among the amphibians, the most commonly known are the giant Chinese salamander, gladiator tree frog, green poison arrow frog, Indian purple frog, monkey frog etc.

Out of the 4000 and more frog varieties spotted across the world, 427 varieties are indigenous to the Amazon rainforests alone.

In addition to deforestation, poaching and negative climatic changes, the outbreak of a deadly, mysterious disease that has caused the extinction of hundreds of frogs and toads and which is spreading across the globe has put scientists and naturalists on their toes. Drastic measures are being taken up to devise measures to control this pandemic and save further extinction of these threatened amphibians.

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You might be wondering if this is the name of some giant grizzly bear. Well, it isn’t. The Sulawesi bear cuscus is a rare arboreal marsupial with a koala-like body, head like a possum, and is commonly called the marsupial monkey. They exist peacefully along with pigs, dwarf buffaloes, and primates and are usually located in the upper canopies of the lowland tropical rainforests of Sulawesi Island, Indonesia.

If you didn’t know, arboreal signifies animals that live on trees while marsupials are mammals whose offspring are pre-mature and cling inside the mother’s pouch until they become mature. Yes, the kangaroo is a marsupial!

Herbivorous in nature, the Sulawesi bear cuscus lives in pairs or small groups of three or four. Leaves, unripe fruits, and flowers that are low in nutrients from their diet. Hence, they are lethargic and move at a slow pace. They are known to spend most of the day lounging and resting for better digestion of food.

Their movement is so gentle that they are fondly called the forest’s ‘slow-motion acrobats’.

Sadly, large-scale poaching for their meat and fur coats, and massive deforestation have resulted in these poor creatures being listed as ‘Vulnerable Species’ by the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature).

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The word ‘parasitos’ was used by the Ancient Greeks to describe a person who ate at your dining table but never invited you back. Certain plants and animals, and unfortunately, a few people as well, act as parasites. These uninvited guests depend on others for shelter, support, food, and water and in return, give nothing but harm to the host!

Rafflesia arnoldii, the world’s heaviest and largest known flower, is the most popular among parasitic plant varieties.

They are parasitic to the roots of the liana vines, supplementing their own growth by sapping nutrients from the host! This rainforest bloom is found in Sumatra of Indonesia, and flowers only once every nine to twenty-one months. After staying in bloom for about five days, the large petals fall and decay into a slimy mess and the remaining parts are no longer visible.

Controversially, Rafflesia arnoldii is named after the British Statesman, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, who was actually not the first person to discover this wild plant. In fact, it was the French botanist Louis Auguste Deschamps who, in 1797, first realised the existence of the flower. However, documented proof of his sparkling discovery and scientific research saw daylight only 250 years later in the Natural History Museum in London!

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Orchids are one of the most expensive and popular varieties among ornamental plants and a gardener’s personal favourite too. Over 18,000 species (8 per cent of the total world flower population) have been discovered so far and approximate 10,000 or more varieties remain to be recorded. Most of the orchid varieties are endemic, that is, they are native to specific microhabitats, making them extremely rare. The orchid varieties found in the landscapes of the Andean Valley are one such example of this uniqueness in habitat.

Orchids are very much adjusted to life in the overhangs of rainforests. Can you recall, from what you read before, how these epiphytic flowering plants take in nutrition and stay hydrated all the time of the year? Their wrapping roots absorb nutrition from the atmosphere and the fleshy stems store rainwater to withstand dry weather.

Amazing to say, orchids also give out fruits that contain thousands of micron-sized seeds that are as light as a balloon. The lighter and smaller the seed, the easier it is to get dispersed across vast regions, isn’t it?

Like most other rare plant and animal species of the rainforests, many orchid varieties too, have already been terminated or, are on the verge of imminent extinction because of forest annihilation activities undertaken by humans.

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