Tropical Forest

Ground floor

Aquariums

Species

220

Marine animals

200

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Locate the theater Tropical Forest in the Aquarium

Return to the earth in a tropical rainforest where the path winds its way through palm trees, climbers, tree ferns and orchids.

Freshwater harbouring turtles and piranhas flows around their roots and a waterfall, while tarpons and mudskippers show off their odd features in brackish water.

In this beautiful nature setting, carnivorous plants give way to the captivating scents of cinnamon, vanilla, pepper, citronella and patchouli that fill the tour with amazing aromas.

Deforestation rate : 1 to 1,3 %/year

Humidity : 60 to 100 %

Surface area : 12,300,000 km²

In the heart of the Tropical Forest

Tropical rain forests, located on either side of the Equator, cover nearly 12% of the planet's land surface and provide shelter to 50-70% of land-based biodiversity. Their luxuriance can sometimes make us forget the poor quality and the fragility of their soil, which is continuously leached by heavy precipitation (2 to 8 m annually). These forests are essential to mankind for the living resources that they supply and the effect they have on the climate and the water cycle.

« Flowers, so rare in forest undergrowth, are at home here and can be found everywhere,
in unusual positions and in unexpected shapes and colours. »

Francis Hallé
A political issue that came with the 19th century and the expansion of colonial empires.

An open-air pharmacy: many medications come from natural substances found in tropical forests.
Equatorial forests provide the largest land-based reservoir of living species.

The current tropical forest has been around for at least 55 million years; Europe's forests are just 10,000 years old.

Many botanists and collectors of tropical plants suffered bites and fevers and got lost in the jungle. When they did manage to send plants off by boat, many of those would simply rot in the hold.
The records for annual rainfall (more than 11 m each year) are reported in tropical rain forests.

Annual deforestation equivalent to 1/4 of the area of France.

The orchid hunters of the 19th century sent their hauls back to Europe in boats protected by warships.
More species of butterflies can be observed during one day in an equatorial forest than in a lifetime in a temperate zone.

One hectare (2.5 acres) of equatorial forest can hold up to 300 different species of trees. A hectare of temperate forest, just 10 to 30.

15% of international wood trade comes from illegal felling.