Exploring Our World: People, Places, and Cultures

"Rain Forest at Night"

Introduction
In this chapter, you learned about the climates and vegetation of East Asia and Southeast Asia. One type of climate and vegetation is tropical rain forest. Rain forest areas contain an enormous variety of plant and animal species. The tropical rain forest covering the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia holds about 3,000 species of trees and 2,000 species of orchids. Borneo’s many plants and animals, however, are threatened by deforestation due to illegal logging and the massive clearing of land for farming.

Destination Title: Virtual World: Rain Forest at Night

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Directions
Start at the Virtual World: Rain Forest at Night site, part of National Geographic’s set of Web sites, and click on Explore to start the tour. (Your browser may take a few seconds to load the graphic.)
Mouse over and click different parts of the graphic to find the following information. Make sure to use the “To Canopy” and “To Forest Floor” links to move the picture.
Click on “Full Story and Photo” for facts and images about plants, animals, and people of the Borneo rainforest.

Use information gathered on your virtual tour of the Borneo rain forest to answer the following questions

1			Click on “To Canopy” and scroll to the top. What is a canopy?
2			Click on “To Forest Floor” and scroll to the bottom. Click on the large red flower. You will get a pop-up box called “Species Gallery.” It will show a picture of this plant called the rafflesia. Clicking on the up and down arrows will give you information about the plant. What features make the rafflesia unique?
3			Click on the small picture at the bottom of the box that shows Wallace’s flying frog. The up and down arrows will move the side bar that gives a description of the frog. How is the Wallace’s flying frog able to fly?
4			Click on “To Canopy” and scroll to the top. Click on the image of the orangutan. A box entitled “Deforestation and Its Effects” will appear. Click on the tab “Loss of biodiversity” to find out about the rich resources of the rain forest that are threatened by deforestation. Use the arrows to scroll up and down the side bar. How might the rain forest benefit modern medicine?
5			Click on the tab “Deforestation” to find out about the rich resources of the rain forest that are threatened by deforestation. How is deforestation affecting the plants, wildlife, and people of the Borneo rain forest?