What Animals Live in the Canopy Layer?

Rainforests are biologically diverse and fascinating. Much can be learned by exploring the rainforests and learning about the animals that live in the canopy layer of them.

Most of the life of the rainforests lives in the top-most layer of the rainforest - the canopy layer. There is not room to list all of them, but here are some of the main animals that you would find in the canopy layer:

• Birds: Parrots and hummingbirds are found in the canopy. There are around 40 species of toucans and 16 species of macaws.
• Monkeys: Squirrel monkeys and spider monkeys are two kinds of monkeys in the canopy. It is interesting to note that spider monkeys have four fingers but no thumb. This is how they got their name.    
• Frogs: One interesting kind of frog in the canopy is the poison arrow frog.  They can cause paralysis or death. The poison from one frog, which is about the size of a thumbnail, could kill 100 adults. They were named poison arrow because hunters would put the poison on their arrowheads.  
• Sloths: These are very slow moving animals that are nocturnal. They have a slow metabolism and can live 30 years. They don’t even climb down from the trees and algae grow on their coats.

Other animals that live in the canopy layer are: ants, bats, boa constrictors, jaguars, leopards, morpho butterflies, rhinoceros beetles, and tree snails.  

Plants of the Rainforest Canopy Layer

There are many species of flowers that call the canopy layer home.   

Vines grow all over the canopy layer as they climb up to get to the sunlight. Some of these vines are used by people of the rainforests to make baskets, furniture, and rope.

Some of the vines growing in the canapy are philodendron and rattan palms. As they wrap themselves around the trees, they provide support during strong winds.

Plants, like ferns, mosses, lichens, bromeliads, and orchids, often grow on the trunks of the trees where there is some sunlight. Some bromeliads can hold several gallons of water in their bowl-shaped, waxy leaves, which is water for the salamanders, tadpoles, snails, beetles, and other small animals that live nearby.

Understanding the Rainforest

Rainforests receive very high amounts of rain, hence the name rainforest. They receive at least 68 inches of rain a year.

More than half of the world’s species live in the rainforests.

The largest rainforest in the world is the Amazon rainforest in South America.  It covers two million square miles and eight countries.    

There are two kinds of rainforests that are found in the world.

• Tropical rainforests are found near the equator, between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.  In these, the trees grow all year and are called evergreen.
• Temperate rainforests are found in North America, Central America, Australia, and Asia. They have coniferous and broadleaf trees, they are cooler than the tropical rainforests, and some of them get snow as well as rain.  

Layers of a Rainforest

Rainforests are so complex that they are described in four layers. These are:

• Emergent: This is the top layer where there is abundant sunlight and protection for the smaller animals and birds. The trees here are 200 feet above the forest floor. Eagles and monkeys are found here.
• Canopy: This is the layer under the emergent layer with abundant food and consequently, many animals. This layer is like a roof to the layers beneath it.
• Understory: The layer under the canopy is very dark and home to many nocturnal species. Trees in this layer are around 12 feet tall. Some of the animals here are jaguars, leopards, tree frogs, and lots of insects.
• Forest Floor: Almost no sunlight at all penetrates to this layer, so few plants grow here. This is where a lot of decomposition occurs. One animal that lives here is the Giant anteater. 

So, now you know all about the layers of the rain forest and the animals that live within its canopy.