Adaptations of Animals to Rainforests
Geography: AQA GCSE, topic 2.2.4
How are Animals Adapted to Tropical Rainforests?
Animals in tropical rainforests, like all other animals, are adapted to survive, get enough food to live, reproduce and avoid being eaten by a predator.
Tamarin and howler monkeys
- Howler and tamarin monkeys live in the Amazon rainforest.
- They can avoid predation by only living high in the trees, avoiding predators on the rainforest floor.
- Monkeys have evolved strong limbs and tails to climb and live in the trees for their whole lives.
Flying squirrels
- Instead of evolving strong limbs to climb trees, flying squirrels have evolved 'wings' made out of skin which are a bit like a wingsuit. They can glide between trees using their 'wings'.
Chameleons
- Chameleons are lizards that live in rainforests (mainly in Madagascar and not in the Amazon rainforest, but they have some cool adaptations!).
- Chameleons can change the colour of their skin to look like whatever is behind them. This helps them to avoid being eaten.
Sloths
- Sloths live in rainforest biomes.
- Sloths are nocturnal (sleep in the day).
- Being nocturnal means that sloths can preserve energy and only move or hunt when temperatures in the rainforest are lower at night.
Anteaters
- Anteaters are also nocturnal (preserving their energy by sleeping in the day).
- There is not much sunlight on the forest floor. Anteaters' senses of hearing and smell have evolved to compensate for the low light levels. They avoid being eaten by predators using their senses of hearing and smell.
Jaguars
- Jaguar's skin camouflages them well in the jungle.
- Jaguars are able to swim. This can help them cross rivers like the Amazon river in the Amazon rainforest.
Test yourself on Adaptations of Animals to Rainforests
What are animals in tropical rainforests adapted to do?
Which of the following is NOT a common animal adaptation to life in tropical rainforests?