We explain everything about the animals that live in the jungle, examples, what they eat and the characteristics that allow them to adapt to their environment.
What are the animals of the jungle?
By jungle animals we mean those that make their habitat tropical or temperate rainforests. That is, they live in places with a humid climate and tending to hot, whose plants tend to grow to important heights and have leafy, abundant and evergreen crowns (evergreen).
In these jungles or jungles, especially around the tropics, an impressive number of species live, resulting in very high margins of biodiversity. In fact, almost half of the planet’s known species are found in the jungles.
Of course, this means that the animals that inhabit the jungles of one continent and those that inhabit the jungles of another are essentially different. Nevertheless, share many adaptive characteristics, given climatic, biotic similarities and of other types that are between the different jungles of the world.
It should also be clarified that the terms “jungle”, “jungle” and “tropical rain forest” are essentially synonymous, and there is no agreement as to when to speak of forest and when of jungle, beyond that established by the speakers of each region. determined.
Characteristics of the jungle animals
The animals that inhabit the jungles are, more than any other habitat outside the sea, diverse. It is estimated that on a single hectare of tropical forest inhabits about 1,500 species other than animals, including mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds, insects, and even fish.
This very high concentration of animal species is not fully known, and they form vast, complex ecological circuits, of which man often has little knowledge.
Given the important vegetal presence of the jungles, which can reach up to 30 meters in height, the animal species they are highly adapted for life in trees or from them. There they make their nests, they feed on its bark, its products, its leaves or the animals that feed on them.
The species are territorially organized among the leafy region of the treetops; the lower region or understory, overshadowed by foliage; and the land region closest to the ground, amid the abundant decomposing organic matter, such as dry leaves.
The food chains of the forest are usually fast, voracious and involve numerous possible combinations of species, since forests are hotbeds of life in constant and mutual interrelation.
What do jungle animals eat?
In forests, as in many other biotopes, there are four main trophic groups of animals, which are:
- Herbivores They feed exclusively on plant matter, be it leaves, stems, fruits, flower nectar, seeds, bark, etc.
- Carnivores. They feed on the meat of other animals, mostly herbivores, but also other smaller carnivores and omnivores.
- Scavengers. They feed on decomposing organic matter, whether of plant or animal origin, such as animal secretions, dead animals, etc.
- Omnivores They combine all of the above categories as the opportunity presents itself, without being restricted by a specific diet.
List of jungle animals
Here is a list of animals that inhabit the jungle:
- Orangutan (I put abelii)
- Jaguar (Panthera onca)
- Leopard (Panthera pardus)
- Piranhas (Pygocentrusnattereri)
- Tapir (Tapirusterrestris)
- Indian elephant (Elephasmaximus)
- Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes)
- Sloth (Choloepusdidactylus)
- Orinoco Cayman (Crocodylusintermedius)
- Toucan (Ramphastos played)
- Gorilla (Gorillagorilla)
- Lemur (Lemurcatta)
- Tiger (Panthera tigris)
- Armadillo (Dasypusnovemcinctus)
- Leaf-cutter ant (Attasexdens)
- Anaconda snake (Eunectesmurinus)
- Macaw (Ara macao)
- Spider monkey (Ateles paniscus)
- Emerald boa (Coralluscaninus)
- Royal python (Python regius)
- Tarantula (Lycosatarantula)
- Red-eyed frogAgalychniscallidryas)
- Harpy eagle (Harpiaharpyja)
- Amazon vampire bat (Vampyrumspectrum)
- Giant chameleon of Madagascar (Furciferoustaleti)