Mongabay.com is considered a leading source of information on tropical forests by some of the world's top ecologists and conservationists. TROPICAL RAINFORESTS: The Understory





Leaf Cutter Ants, in Perspective

Imagine...the quarter-inch ant as now being six feet [the size of a man]. It would run along the trail for some ten miles at a speed of 16 miles per hour. It would cover each mile in three minutes and forty-five seconds, a velocity close to the human record. The now six-foot ant would pick up a burden of 750 pounds and speed back toward the nest at 15 miles per hour, covering each mile in four minutes.
excerpted from Int'l Expeditions packet, 1993.


Continued: Rainforest floor


This article was written by Rhett A. Butler [bibliographic citation for this page] and was last updated on the most recent date listed in the column on the right side.



Other pages in this section:
 Forest Floor Intro
Seeds & Fruit
Mammals (Herbivores)
Birds
Invertebrates
- - - - -
References
 Soils & Nutrient Cylcing
Forest Succession
Mammals (Carnivores & Omnivores)
Reptiles & Amphibians

- - - - -
Kids version of this section
The forest floor



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Copyright Rhett Butler 1994-2011

"Rainforest" is used interchangeably with "rain forest" on this site. "Jungle" is generally not used.