The terms 'jungle' and 'rainforest' are constantly swapped around in everyday conversation. But to a biologist, they couldn't be more distinct.
While both are teeming with exotic wildlife and lush greenery, the secret to telling them apart lies in looking up at the sky – and down at your feet.
What is a jungle?
A jungle is a dense forest, often in hot, humid areas of thick vegetation – and most often found in tropical regions close to the equator. There is a tangled undergrowth, with rapid growth in vegetation.
Unlike the term 'rainforest', 'jungle' isn’t a biological classification – it’s a description for an area.
What is a rainforest?
As the name suggests, a rainforest has a warm, wet climate (with more than 2,000mm of rainfall per year) and is made up of a layered structure. This tropical rainforest structure begins with a ground layer, builds up to a shrub layer, under canopy, main canopy and then up into the emergent. This restricts sunlight and rain from reaching the ground of a rainforest.
Rainforests are found on every continent of the world, except Antarctica. They make up 6% of the Earth’s surface and are home to half the Earth’s plants and animals.
The world’s biggest rainforest is the Amazon rainforest.
The difference between jungles and rainforests
A rainforest includes a layered canopy, which prevents sunlight from reaching the ground, whereas jungles allow a lot more light in – meaning there is a more rapid lifecycle of growth and decay in plant species.
Top image credit: Ricardo Lima/Getty Images
