Jungle Planet

Life on Earth is characterized by its enormous richness. Even today, much of its surface is covered with forests and jungles. These terrestrial ecosystems are home to the greatest diversity of living things. This chapter shows the diversity of these environments and how the wildlife there adapts to living in them.

The jungles of Borneo and Southeast Asia are among the oldest in the world, at nearly 15 million years old. They are inhabited by a unique and exclusive fauna with its own special characteristics, with the orangutan as its leading character, living alongside sun bears, flying lizards, giant rafflesia flowers, macaques and hornbills with their huge bills.

Mangrove forests, which grow along the coasts in the tropics, are magical in appearance. These forests and their inhabitants - such as proboscis monkeys, langurs, mudskippers and bearded wild boars - are dependent on the tides.

The south of Africa is home to an unusual forest that loses its leaves during the dry season. The Mopane tree - or butterfly tree - is the main exponent of this behaviour. In this peculiar landscape live elephants, hyenas and lions, and hidden among its foliage, the most striking of African wildlife - colobus monkeys, eagles and mousebirds.

The laurel forests of the Canary Islands are relics more than 20 million years old. They grow in the interior of some islands where winds carry clouds and mist. They are jungles full of strange and unique animals, such as Laurel and Bolle's pigeons, lizards, snails and birds of prey.

The Madagascan rainforest is one of the strangest in the world. It is inhabited by lemurs whose howls at dawn and dusk fill the woodland. In this extraordinary and unique ecosystem, more than fourteen species of lemur, thirty species of chameleon, strange and striking birds, and countless insects survive.