Psst. Hey. Take a listen.
Where am I? Did you say a jungle or a forest?
Great guess. But it's not just any forest.
Listen. Wow. Listen to all that rain come down.
Did that give you a hint?
I heard some of you say it.
I'm in a rainforest in South America.
Oh good. It stopped raining.
The rainforest is a super -populated ecological sanctuary where millions of unique species cohabitate.
In fact, you're going to meet a whole bunch of them.
Let's take a quick rainforest roll call.
Jaguar. Monkey. Parrot.
Snake. Frog. Butterfly.
Sloth. Who else? Yeah, I already got you, Frog.
Okay. Enough with the croaking.
We heard you, Frog.
We appear in the canopy.
Shhhhh. Guys, I'm trying to get some sleep.
That's all you do asleep, Sloth.
Frog. You're bothering everyone.
Everyone's bothered.
Listen, pal. You don't own the rainforest.
I can croak as loud as I want.
As much as I want. Here we go again.
Okay. So maybe they don't always get along.
But the tropical rainforest boasts the greatest biodiversity of any terrestrial ecosystem on Earth.
What you talking about?
Terrestrial? Then what does biodiversity mean?
Terrestrial ecosystems are land -based, and biodiversity refers to the number of different organisms living in a given area.
And when it comes to the rainforest, scientists estimate there could be anywhere from three million up to fifty million unique species of animals, insects, fish, birds, trees, and plants living there.
But what exactly is the rainforest?
What makes it one of the most unique places on Earth?
And why is it so crucial to our planet's survival?
It's time for another whiff of science on Who Smarted?
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Lots of fun on Who Smarted.
Boy, it's so wet here.
I like it. It's good for smuggling.
One thing all rainforests have in common is rain.
It's right there in the name.
Duh. But how much rain are we talking?
A lot. Around 80 to 180 inches of rain per year on average.
Some rainforests get up to 400 inches in a year.
That's as tall as a three -story building.
Yeah, but what does that mean, like, per day?
Well, it rains between 130 and 250 days out of the year, depending on the forest's global location.
Basically, it would be like a whole entire school year of nonstop rain.
That's a lot of rain.
True or false? Rainforests only exist in South America.
Did you say true? Not true!
Nope. Rainforests thrive on every continent except Antarctica.
There are two classifications of rainforests, tropical and temperate.
Tropical rainforests are located close to the Earth's equator.
They remain warm and frost -free all year, with temperatures staying mostly between 70 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit.
Sounds like Florida!
Yes. In fact, Florida has some tropical rainforests, as do Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
The U .S. also has the other kind of rainforest, temperate.
There are temperate rainforests in North Carolina's Appalachian Mountains, California's Redwood Forest, Alaska's Chugach National Forest, and the Olympic Peninsula in Washington.
Temperate rainforests have consistently mild temperatures, but on the cooler side.
Well, I think we're cooler.
No, I mean cooler as in colder temperatures.
Oh. Temperate rainforests are more likely to have evergreen trees and other needled pine -type varieties.
Whereas the tropical rainforest is known for having trees and plants with bigger, wider leaves.
Although temperate rainforests have less species of trees, theirs tend to live longer, sometimes 500 to 1 ,000 years.
I like sleeping in trees.
Of course you do sloth.
Sloths are arboreal creatures, along with marmosets, howler monkeys, and all kinds of reptiles.
In case you didn't know, arboreal means a tree -dweller.
It's the huge number of species living together that makes the tropical rainforests especially impressive.
I just wish we all got along better so I could sleep.
Just think of it. Millions of plant, fungi, and animal species.
How many animal species would you guess live in your neighborhood?
Okay, I heard seven, eight, twenty?
Only two? Your neighborhood must be very small.
I can think of about a dozen different kinds of animals near me, but that doesn't include all the species.
Some animals are similar, but they must share genetic heritage and characteristics to be part of the same species.
What kind of animals live by you?
Okay dogs, cats. I love my pets too.
Skunks. Birds. Squirrels.
Deer. Roadrunner. Alligator.
Owls. Orgopines. Cute, but don't touch.
Chupacabra. I don't think that one's real.
No matter how many animals you can name, it's nowhere near as many as there are in the rainforest.
I'm a kind of bird, parrot.
Don't you forget me.
Yes you are. But in your Amazon rainforest home, you're only one of 30 species of parrot and just one of 1 ,300 different species of birds.
You really know how to make a bird feel special.
You are special. You're unique in a very densely populated community and especially famous rainforest.
Well when you put it that away.
And all of these different types of animals live in different strata or height levels of the rainforest.
I live on the top floor.
Good thing I can fly.
You live in the emergent layer, the brand new growth of the tippy tippy treetops.
Your neighbors directly below, like Sloth, are in the canopy layer.
I still have a nice view.
Hello then. In the understory layer, are animals like bats, snakes, frogs, monkeys, and me.
I'm a good climber.
I'm also a good swimmer.
So don't believe that rumor that all cats can swim.
Your downstairs neighbors in the shrub layer include lots of bugs, grasshoppers, beetles, scorpions, spiders, caterpillars, and wasps.
Yuck! A single bush in the Amazon may have more species of ants than the entire British Isles.
My word, I do say that is a lot of ants, good fellow.
On the ground level, forest floor, live tappers, anteaters, rodents, and lots of decomposing experts like termites, slugs, and worms.
And let's not forget all the plants, fungi, and microscopic organisms residing in every layer.
Tropical rainforests are home to more than half of the Earth's terrestrial animal species.
Yet rainforest acreage covers only about three percent of our planet's total area.
Whoa! Many of the rainforest species are endangered or have gone extinct as the rainforest shrink due largely to human interference.
Not cool, and I'm not talking about temperature.
A chunk of rainforest as large as 40 football fields is destroyed every minute.
But why? Clear cutting, mostly.
Clear cutting means cutting down huge sections of trees.
Summer cut for timber and paper pulp.
And sometimes governments cut paths for roads, cattle farmers, and other agricultural industries.
In some cases, cutting trees or flooding areas for power generation also causes significant destruction.
I suppose I could fly somewhere new, but this is my home.
Rainforests are Earth's oldest living ecosystems.
Some have survived in their present form for at least 70 million years.
But rainforests aren't just important for all you animals, though.
They're important for people, too.
Can you guess why? I should know this.
Smarty Pants, what about you?
Can you think of some of the ways rainforests play an essential role in your life as well as the planet's?
Think about it while we take a quick break.
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So, were you able to think of some ways rainforests play an essential role in your life as well as the planets?
Let's ask some of our animal friends.
Rainforests help maintain the Earth's limited supply of fresh water.
They add water to the atmosphere through the process of transpiration, by which plants release water from their leaves during photosynthesis.
Scientists estimate about 15 % of the world's fresh water flows from the Amazon Basin alone.
Wow, that's pretty important.
But wait, there's more.
Rainforests regulate global temperatures, cooling, and stabilizing local microclimates, ocean currents, wind, and rainfall patterns.
The Amazon rainforest itself absorbs 5 % of annual carbon dioxide emissions, making it critical in slowing climate change.
Rainforest plants are used in some of the world's most important life -saving medicines.
Elements treated using rainforest compounds include malaria, diabetes, and tuberculosis, among others.
Wow! So, to recap, rainforests provide fresh water, regulate global temperatures, and absorb carbon dioxide, while providing tons of oxygen and the ingredients for medicines.
Sounds like they play a very important role in the survival of the planet and people.
Not to mention, it's our home.
And not just your home, nomadic hunter -gatherer communities of Central Africa.
Substantines farming people of New Guinea and tribes in the northern Amazon rainforest are just some of the indigenous people who call the rainforest home.
Which is why we need to do what we can to protect the rainforests.
Finally, something we can all agree on.
What can you do, smarty pants?
Well, for one thing, you can insist on only buying from companies that directly support rainforest protection and the protection of indigenous peoples.
And if you're really all in, you can donate, fundraise, volunteer, and do your part to reduce your carbon footprint.
We can all do our part to preserve the rainforests and restore ecological balance.
Hey Frog, you done?
Yeah, I said all I had to say.
Good night. A huge shout out to Miss Kalicki's fourth grade class in Plainfield, Illinois.
Thanks so much for smarting with us.
And thank you, Miss Kalicki, for being such a great teacher.
This episode Rainforest was written by Libby Ward and voiced by Brandon Bayless, Jason Williams, Jenna Hoban, Sheffield Chastain, Taya Garland, Adam Tex Davis, Max Kamaski, and Jerry Colbert.
Additional voices, technical direction, and sound design by Josh Hahn.
Who Smarted is recorded and mixed at the Relic Room Studios.
Our associate producer is Max Kamaski.
The theme song is by Brian Suarez, and the lyrics are written and performed by Adam Tex Davis.
Who Smarted was created and produced by Adam Tex Davis and Jerry Colbert.
This is an atomic entertainment production.
