· The Brazilian rain forest contains over 55,000 plant species, which are 22 % of those on Earth.

· The Peruvian rain forest is home to more than 3,532 species of butterflies and 1, 710 species of birds.

· The world’s rain forests are home to three quarters of all plants and animals known to man.

· One third of the world’s bird species live in the rain forests.

· Canada has a rain forest on the west coast. A rare bear species lives there. It is a black bear that has a specific gene that produces a brown bear. It is known as the Kermode or Spirit bear. Grizzly bears and black bears also live here.

· The earth’s rain forests contain more than 30,000 animal and plant species.

· Many medicinal plants come from the world’s rain forests.

· There is a thunderstorm in the rain forest 200 days per year.

· The Brazilian rain forest has the largest population of Macaws and parrots of any place in the world.

· Canada’s rain forest stretches from Knight Inlet to Princess Royal Island. It makes up only 1.2 % of Canada’s land mass. Cedar trees over 1,000 years old are alive and well in the rain forest and Sitka spruce stretch 90 meters (300 feet) into the sky.

by Mary M. Alward