9781422277034

INTRODUCTION

J ungles are living and vibrant parts of our world. Every place you look, you will see something fascinating and beautiful growing, flying, crawling, or walking across the rainforest floor. This book will explore some of the most interesting, exotic, and deadly insects and plants found anywhere on earth. The four largest remaining jungles of the world, which are located in Sarawak, Borneo, the Amazon River Basin, West Central Africa, and Papua New Guinea, are incredible assets to the health and welfare of our planet. Borneo’s jungles are in danger of becoming extinct in the next century. The main cause of its destruction is the logging and corporations that are cutting down the jungle to grow trees in palm oil plantations. Palm oil, which is squeezed from oil palm tree nuts, is used in many household products around the world. Due to this practice, the jungles lose not only trees, but also the habitat for insects, arachnids and plants not found anywhere else in the world. The Amazon Jungle is also battling against logging activities, deforestation, and bulldozing to promote large-scale agriculture, cattle ranching, mining, large

8 INTO THE WORLD’S AMAZING JUNGLES: JUNGLE BUGS & VEGETATION