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Hey there!
Squeaks and I just got back from a forest hike.
I love to walk through forests.
They’re so peaceful, and they are always a good place
to look for and learn about nature.
While we hiked, Squeaks and I were talking about
a trip we want to take to a redwood forest someday.
Redwood forests grow on the west coast of North America,
and they’re really special.
For one thing, they’re actually a kind of rainforest!
I know!
When we hear the word “rainforest,” we usually think of hot,
tropical rainforests full of jungle animals.
But redwood forests are different.
They are pretty rainy… and really foggy…
but they’re much cooler than tropical rainforests.
And they’re full of different kinds of life.
One of the most interesting things about them is that they have layers,
and different kinds of plants and animals live in each layer!
Yes, layers like a cake!
Or sometimes, I think of it as floors in a building.
Each layer is a floor, with different things living on each of them.
Totally, Squeaks!
Let’s learn more about some of the things that live in a redwood forest.
Now, the first thing you need to know about redwood trees is that they are big.
And I mean really big!
Like, if you stacked three fully-grown oak trees on top of each other,
that might still be shorter than a redwood.
And some redwoods have trunks big enough to drive a car through!
These big trees have lots of branches, and grow lots of leaves that look like needles.
Together, the redwood trees and branches act kind of like a beach umbrella.
They keep most of the Sun’s light from reaching down to the forest floor.
So, the bottom layer of the redwood forest is very shaded.
It’s also cooler, and usually wet or damp,
because heat from the Sun doesn’t dry it out.
But that’s just fine for the things that live here!
All plants need sunlight to grow, but different plants need different amounts.
And some plants prefer just a little bit of sunlight.
Like mosses and ferns!
So, if we were walking in the shaded redwood forest,
we would see lots of ferns down on the ground.
If we looked a little, we might also see animals that
love damp and shady places hiding in the cool, wet soil, like salamanders.
We might also spot a deer or bobcat!
If we looked up… we would look into what’s called the canopy.
The canopy is made up mostly of the redwood tree branches.
There are so many that they sometimes criss-cross over each other
and make a kind of a mat that’s thick enough for some animals to walk on!
Around the middle of the canopy,
you’ll find animals like the Humboldt’s Flying Squirrel.
Well… these squirrels don’t really fly, like birds do.
But they do glide through the air using a special flap of skin between their legs.
It’s kind of like they have a big kite, or a big sail attached to their bodies!
In fact, they’re so good at gliding that they’re actually not the best at walking.
So, it’s easier for them to spend most of their time around the middle of the canopy.
And their food is up there, too!
So at night, you might see them gliding from tree to tree,
looking for food like berries and bird eggs.
Finally, there’s the top part of the canopy.
If we could see way in the tops of the trees,
we might see animals like peregrine falcons.
Peregrine falcons eat things like other, smaller birds.
So, living in the upper part of the canopy makes it easy for them
to see anyone who flies above them.
And we might even see other plants, including whole other trees,
growing on top of other tree branches!
Yes!
Plants that grow on other plants and trees are called epiphytes.
They get everything they need to grow in the upper part of the canopy.
Do you remember what plants need to grow?
Yes, exactly.
Sunlight, like we talked about with the ferns, but also water.
Here, It’s easy to see where these plants get light.
Because they’re close to the top of the tree,
there’s not much in between them and the rays of the Sun.
But what about water?
Well, when leaves from the top of a redwood tree fall…
they don’t always make it to the ground.
Some get caught on the mat of crisscrossing branches.
Then, over time, those leaves fall apart and turn into a sort of soil.
There’s not a lot of it… but what’s there holds enough water for the plants to
grow.
Scientists have found berry bushes, pine trees,
and oak trees growing in the redwood forest upper canopy.
It’s almost like a forest on top of a forest!
Great question, Squeaks.
Squeaks wanted to know if other forests have layers.
And many of them do!
Those layers won’t be exactly the same as the layers in a redwood forest,
and they won’t have the same kinds of plants and animals.
That’s because all forests are a little bit different from one another.
They have different kinds of trees, and different amounts of sunlight or rain.
But that’s one of the things that makes them so interesting!
We should go back out after lunch and see what we can find!
And in the meantime, thanks for joining me here at The Fort!
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