How do people live in the

rainforest?
STARTER - Think and discuss:
What is he doing?
What else would this person need to SURVIVE in the rainforest?
Human Planet – Jungle part 1 0 to 14 mins
Obviously, rainforest people do not go to the local supermarket for food. Their food source
comes entirely from the forest. The men go of hunting for antelope and elephant and they
also set snare traps for unsuspecting animals. The women cook the ingredients that the men
bring home.

The meals contain lots of rainforest fruit and vegetables. Most meals contain plantains and
yams, these are both starchy foods.

They also build dams in rivers to catch fish.

Rainforest people are known as hunter-
gatherers, which means that they move
from place to place in order to find food.

They believe that animals have spirits, as

will become angry if the animal is killed
cruelly. As a result, animals are killed in the
least painful way possible.

Here is a small list of just some of the foods that can be found
in the Brazilian rainforest: avocados, coconuts, figs, oranges,
lemons, grapefruit, bananas, guavas, pineapples, mangos and
tomatoes; vegetables including corn, potatoes, rice, winter
squash and yams; spices like black pepper, cayenne,
chocolate, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, sugar cane, tumeric,
coffee and vanilla and nuts including Brazil nuts and cashews.
 The map below shows the location of the world's tropical rainforests. Rainforests
cover only a small part of the earth's surface - about 6%, yet they are home to over
half the species of plants and animals in the world.
The Amazon jungle is the world's largest tropical rainforest.
The forest covers the basin of the Amazon, the world's second
longest river.

The Amazon is home to the greatest variety of plants and

animals on Earth. A 1/5 of all the world's plants and birds and
about 1/10 of all mammal species are found there.

The largest rainforests are in the Amazon River Basin (South America), the Congo River Basin (western
Africa), and throughout much of southeast Asia. Smaller rainforests are located in Central America,
Madagascar, Australia and nearby islands, India, and other locations in the tropics.

There are only two seasons in a tropical rainforest, the wet season and the dry season.
 In the rainforest, tribes clear an area of land that is large enough to build their village. Trees are cut
down, and reused to build their huts. Banana leaves are used for the roof, and mud is used to keep in
the heat. In the very centre of the village, is a meeting hut, this is only for the men, to discuss the
plans of the tribe.

Here is a recent quote from a British tourist who visited a rainforest tribe, ‘It was obvious from some of the
things that I saw in the village, like a satellite dish and television as well as new modern clothes, that they
had been dealing with some of the area loggers and getting money or goods from them in trade for trees in
their area’.
The huts that the people live in vary from tribe to
tribe. As many as 15 people can live in one hut, which
is over half the size of this classroom. Many huts have
no wall, privacy is not a big deal out here in the forest.
 The world's rainforests are currently disappearing at a rate of 6000 acres every hour (this is
about 4000 football fields per hour).

When these forests are cut down, the plants and animals that live in the forests are
destroyed, and some species are at risk of being made extinct. Further, as the large-scale
harvesting of lumber from the rain forests continues, the balance of the earth's eco-system
is disrupted.

We need the rain forests to produce oxygen and clean the atmosphere to help us breathe.
We also know that the earth's climate can be affected, as well as the water cycle.
Rainforests also provide us with many valuable medicinal plants, and may be a source of a
cure from some deadly diseases.
• Nearly half of the world's species of plants, animals and micro organisms will be destroyed or severely threatened over the
next quarter century due to rainforest deforestation.

• There were an estimated ten million Amerindians living in the Amazonian Rainforest five centuries ago. Today there are less
than 200,000.
Commercial logging, clearance for agriculture, roads
and railways, forest fires, mining and drilling, fuelwood
collection and clearance for living space are all
intimately connected with deforestation, but it is far
from obvious as to which is the worst culprit.

Trees used to be here!

 Rainforests are very dense, warm, wet forests. They are havens for millions of
plants and animals.

Rainforests are extremely important in the ecology of the Earth. The plants of
the rainforest generate much of the Earth's oxygen. These plants are also very
important to people in other ways; many are used in new drugs that fight
disease and illness.
As many as 30 million species of plants and animals live in tropical rainforests.

The weather in the forest rarely changes, here is a weather diary:

6 am Morning mist covers the rainforest. There are no clouds. The sun rises and the mist clears quickly.
8 am Getting warmer - 25 C, little wind - calm.
12 noon Temperatures climb to around 32 C, getting hotter as the sun rises in the sky.
1 pm Heat causes water to evaporate from seas, rivers, rainforest and swamps. Strong convection currents carry water
vapour into the atmosphere.
2 pm Large rain clouds develop. Produce rainstorm with thunder and lightning.
3 pm After downpour, rainforest is calm but hot and sticky.
5 pm Temperatures start to fall.
8 pm Temperatures reach 24 C. Calm, no clouds.
Rainforest people have total respect for the
environment that they live with. They do not see
the forest as a collection of trees, but as a living and
breathing creature that deserves respect, as it
provides them with a home, food and materials to
use.
At night, rainforest people tell stories to each
other around the fire. Animals feature highly in
their stories. Stories of ghosts, spirits and black
magic are also popular.

The Kuarup is the biggest indigenous festival in

the Amazon and it has being happening annually
in July or August for centuries. The Kuarup
festival brings many different tribes together to
celebrate and honor their dead. Although the
motivation is not the most cheerful one the
festivities are happy and very enjoyable for
outsiders. It's a huge demonstration of
indigenous dance, music, rituals , games and
food. Nowadays the Kuarup can be seen by the
outsiders on some occasions, not always, as it
depends on the mood and willingness of the tribe
leaders.
Face paints and body jewellery on the men represent power within
The tribe. The leader is always coloured the brightest.
 Here’s what you are going to do:
1 In your group you must read and discuss your fact sheet. Then, clearly present
the most important facts on the A3 piece of paper. You can use pictures, BUT
NO MORE THAN 30 WORDS!! Make sure you put the title on your work. You will
have 5 minutes to do this.

2 You must now select a speaker in your group who will present your findings to
other people in the class.

3 Everybody else in your group must go to a different group and find out about a
another topic.

4 Afterwards, You must come back to your base group and write your findings on
your reporter’s log.

5 Each group must make sure you have visited each group, YOU WILL HAVE 10
MINUTES TO DO SO!!

6 Then, you must discuss your findings within your group. 5 MINUTES!!

7 You will then take part in a test to see how well you have completed this
exercise.
 Reporter’s Log
Where do they live?

What do they eat?

What do they live in?

What is their environment?

What is their tradition?

What are their worries?

 Plenary - Quiz
Q1. What does hunter-gather mean?

Q2. Most meals eaten contain either plantain or what other ingredient?

Q3. What percentage of the earth’s surface do rainforests cover?

Q4. Name one country in which you would find a rainforest.

Q5. What type of leaves do they use to roof their huts?

Q6. What is one of their greatest worry?

Q7. Which is the correct description of a rainforest climate?

warm and wet or warm and dry or cold and wet

Q8. What do tribes often do at night around the fire?

Q9. How does the tribe leader look different from the rest of the tribe?

Q10. What does deforestation mean?