Tropical rainforests are hot all year. The temperature in a tropical rainforest stays about the same from month to month. Day length stays about the same all year too, 11 to 12 hours. Tropical rainforests are found in Central and South America and in Africa.

A tropical rainforest can get more than 2,000 millimeters of rain in a year. That is 79 inches. Heavy rain washes nutrients out of rainforest soil. Rainforest soil is poor in nutrients. Dead plant material breaks down fast, so there is very little leaf litter.

Look at the trees. Some rainforest trees grow as tall as 60 meters, which is 200 feet. A single hectare of tropical rainforest can hold hundreds of species of trees. A hectare is 2.5 acres.

Most rainforests have four layers: the emergent layer, the canopy, the understory and the forest floor. The canopy blocks sunlight, so the layers below are dark. More animals live in the canopy than in any other layer. Most of the life in a rainforest lives up in the trees, as of November 2026.

Some plants grow on other plants. They are called epiphytes. A strangler fig seed often starts growing in the branches of another tree. The fig sends roots down its host tree to the ground. It slowly strangles the host.

Sloths live high in the trees of tropical rainforests. Sloths move very slowly. Algae grow on the fur of sloths. Poison dart frogs are small, brightly colored frogs. Most are only about 2 inches, or 5 centimeters, long or less. They live in the wet tropical forests of Central and South America.

Gorillas live in groups called troops. They eat mostly plants. Gorillas make nests to rest and sleep in. Orangutans build nests to sleep in too. Jaguars live in rainforests. Jaguars are the third-biggest cats in the world, after tigers and lions. They are good swimmers.

The largest unbroken stretch of rainforest is in the Amazon river basin of South America. The Amazon is home to about 10 percent of the world's known species, as of November 2026. Scientists are still finding new species in tropical rainforests, as of November 2026.

Words to know

• hectare: 2.5 acres
• species: kind of life
• epiphytes: plants on plants
• algae: tiny plantlike growth
• troops: gorilla groups