It is understood by jungleas well as by jungle or by tropical rain forest, an area of abundant broadleaf and broadleaf vegetation, closed canopy, and usually numerous levels of diverse understory (ie, several “stories” or “levels” of vegetation). For example: Congo jungle, missionary jungle, Borneo jungle.
Forests often harbor an enormous amount of biomass (two-thirds that of the entire world) and occurs in regions with frequent and abundant rainfall, with soils rich in organic matter and generally warm climates of the intertropical belt.
There is no established criteria to distinguish between jungles, jungles and tropical forests, but they are often used to designate dense and impenetrable expanses of vegetationin contrast to temperate forests with greater distances between trees.
The jungles are considered today an enormous biological terrain to be discovered, with the hope of giving, among its numerous plant and animal species to be discovered, some that will allow us new pharmaceutical and medicinal advances.
examples of jungles
- The Amazon. It is the largest jungle in the entire world, with six million square kilometers of surface, distributed among nine countries: Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana, Ecuador and French Guyana. It is perhaps the ecoregion with the greatest biodiversity on the planet and was declared in 2011 as one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
- Darien Gap. This is the name given to the jungle area that marks the separation between Colombia and Panama, as well as between South America and Central America. Its name is due to the fact that the Pan-American Highway that unites many of the countries of the continent is interrupted there, and there are no alternate land routes to cross the vegetation thickness.
- Western Guinean Lowland Rainforest. This rainforest of more than 200,000 km2 extends from Guinea and Sierra Leone through Liberia, to the southwest of the Ivory Coast. Few regions of Africa are as humid as this one, whose dry season is brief but intense. Like the rest of the Guinean forest, its state of conservation is critical.
- Guinean montane rainforest. 31,000 km2 of rain forest scattered in the mountainous chain of Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra Leone occupy this region of West Africa. Despite its biotic importance, it is impossible to estimate its conservation status due to the ongoing civil wars that have ravaged the region.
- Congo Jungle. Stretching across the Congo River Basin and its tributaries, this African jungle encompasses a huge expanse of territory, including territories in Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, and the Central African Republic. It is the second largest jungle in the world (700,000 km2) and contains a wide and rich biodiversity in a current state of vulnerability due to deforestation, construction and poaching.
- Central jungle of Peru. This jungle occupies 10% of the territory of said country, and is exploited for coffee and cocoa crops, important export products of Peru, although the margins of poverty in the region’s population are significant.
- Nigerian lowland jungle. Jungle umbrophile (of rain almost all year) of about 67,300 km2 that extends between Nigeria and Benin, currently in critical danger of conservation, with five endemic species of mammals threatened by the numerous populated and urbanized areas of the region.
- missionary jungle. Occupying 35% of the territory of the province of Misiones, in northern Argentina, this very humid and sunny jungle is one of the tourist attractions of the area, bordering between Brazil and Argentina. It extends along very low valleys and mountains up to 850 meters above sea level.
- the yungas. Typical of the eastern flank of the Andean cordillera, the yungas are montane jungles or Andean montaneous, cloudy, rainy, and tropical forests. They extend from northern Peru to Bolivia and northern Argentina, and contain a fundamental biotic contribution to the diversity of South American species.
- Taman Negara. Named after a National Park and Malaysia’s first protected area, it is one of the world’s oldest rainforests, estimated to be 130 million years old. It is currently one of the main tourist attractions of this Asian nation.
- New Guinea Jungle. The third most biodiverse jungle in the world and one of the most extensive that exists, is located on the island of Nueva Guinea, occupying 85% of the total territory of the island, some 668,000 km2. It is considered one of the least intervened on the planet and includes three jungle steps: tropical, equatorial and cloudy.
- Usambara Mountain Rainforest. Located in Tanzania and part of the African Eastern Mountain Arc, a tropical forest of great antiquity and a strong presence of endemic species, due to particular evolutionary conditions, extends over the Usambara mountains. It is currently under strong ecological threat, due to indiscriminate logging, and numerous global initiatives urgently seek to repair the damage done.
- Monteverde Cloud Forest. Chosen as one of the 7 tourist wonders of Costa Rica, it is a tropical forest of great biological importance, since it has 5% of the world’s bird species, 6.5% of bats, 3% of butterflies and 3% of the ferns.
- Madagascar sub-humid rainforest. Located on the central plateau of the African island of Madagascar, this rain forest of almost 200,000 km2 receives the humid trade winds that maintain the ideal atmosphere for its exuberant vegetation. Currently, however, it is threatened by the growth of Antananarivo, the nation’s capital, and the growing practice of shifting agriculture.
- Lacandon jungle. Also called “Desert of Solitude”, it is located in Chiapas, Mexico, towards the border with Guatemala, a region where the Mayan Lacandón people live. It comprises almost 960,000 hectares of humid jungle, and gained much notoriety in the 1990s with the appearance of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
- Borneo jungle. Located on the Island of the same name, it occupies most of its territory, remaining largely virgin and unexplored. Within it, more than 400 new species of animals and plants have been discovered since 1994, despite the fact that slash and burn, together with the monoculture of palm trees to obtain oil, keep the jungle under threat.
- Peten Jungle. It is located in Guatemala, in the northern sector of the department of the same name, of which it occupies approximately 30%. Since the 1990s, UNESCO has joined forces with the Guatemalan State to preserve the rich biosphere it contains.
- valdivian forest. Almost 400,000 km2 thick, it is located in the border region of Chile with Argentina. It is a temperate rain forest, although in the past it was called jungle, currently preferred term for tropical vegetation. However, the term is still used for tourism and promotional purposes.
- eastern guinea jungle. Located in the southwest of the Ivory Coast and Ghana, as well as Togo and Benin, it is a rainforest of 184,000 km2. Despite the numerous endemic species of primates, reptiles and amphibians, this jungle is in critical danger, given the indiscriminate logging and hunting, product of agricultural use and the export of hardwoods.
- Humid jungle in the Farallones de Cali. Along with the tropical forest, cloud forest and páramo, the humid jungle integrates the ecological zones of this rock formation in western Colombia. With trees up to 40 meters high, this jungle preserves the ideal climate for various rivers that supply electricity to the cities of Valle del Cauca.
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