Just how many different types of apes, monkeys, and other primates can you find in tropical rainforests?

It’s difficult to say an exact amount as new species are being discovered all the time! What we do know is that primates are abundant in each major tropical rainforest region (with the exception of the small Australasian pocket).

Tropical rainforests are perfect for primates as they provide an abundance of food, shelter, and space for different species to occupy. 

Monkeys found in Central/South America are called New World Primates and have some key distinctions from Africa and Asia’s Old World Primates. Learn more about the physical and behavioral differences here!

Rainforests have been called the “lungs of the world” due to their contribution in providing over 20% of the world’s oxygen.  The forests and soil sequester enormous volumes of carbon, the peat swamps of Borneo alone contain over 50% of the world’s locked-up carbon. That’s the equivalent of a decade of human-caused carbon dioxide to be released into the atmosphere through, for example, transport and fossil fuel power stations. It’s estimated rainforests absorb about 20% of the world’s man-made carbon dioxide emissions.

As the name rainforest would suggest, one of the key characteristics of these lush landscapes is the sheer amount of water that passes through them every day.  Through system cycling — rain, absorption by trees and plants, pass-through via rivers to the sea, and transpiration — the world’s tropical rainforests cycle nearly half the planet’s freshwater annually.

With the abundant sun and warmer temperatures around the Equator (typically fluctuating around 30-35 degrees C (86- 95 F), the plants and trees are near-constantly photosynthesizing. This process releases water vapor from the leaves, which leads to heavier clouds and more rain. This cycle helps to keep the forests verdant and lush, providing food for the animals and insects living under the canopy.

Hundreds of rainforest plants are used in modern medicines. It is estimated that 1 in 4 of all our medicines come from plants growing in the rainforest. For example, Vincristine, a drug taken from the rosy periwinkle of Madagascar has allowed an 80% remission rate for some forms of childhood leukemia. Curare, a poison found in the skin of Amazonian rainforest frogs and used by Amazonian Indians on arrow tips, can be used medically as a muscle relaxant when dispensed in regulated small doses.

Only about 1% of the plant species have been studied, so potentially there could be many more cures to illnesses waiting to be discovered.  In Madagascar, 80% of the plant species are endemic. Yet over 60% of the island’s forest has already been destroyed. 

How do scientists determine the health of the Earth’s rainforests?

1) Use satellites and other technology to measure the amount of lost forest – generally due to logging operations. As more rainforest disappears, the remaining pockets become much more vulnerable and susceptible to drought.

2) Quantifying the number of animal and insect species in an area. Some forests maybe green and vibrant on the surface but silent on the ground due to poaching and overheating of the animal wildlife. Animals (particularly birds and primates) are massively important for seed dispersal and plant cross-pollination in forests. Read more here

How is it that these forests can help prevent climate change?

One of the major roles tropical rainforests play in mitigating global warming is through the water cycle. Rainforests churn through an enormous amount of water each day as the plants undergo photosynthesis (releasing water vapor) – leading to evaporation – precipitation, etc. While much of this water stays in this rainforest feedback loop between the sky and the ground, a significant portion of this water remains in the clouds and can be transported hundreds of miles away.

This displaced precipitation helps cool the earth, as well as hydrate critical areas of human agriculture and food production. Continued deforestation of these tropical forests will have a dramatic and catastrophic effect on these external areas.

Learn more about these Rivers in the Sky here

Poaching, logging, encroachment, and pollution are just some of the main issues that threaten the future of our forests. As rainforests are held together by such a vast, complex system of water and nutrient cycles and symbiotic animal relationships, problems with one component of the forest can have knock-on effects on others.