Wet rainforest

Habitat type: Wet rainforest

Other key words: Rainforest, wet rainforest, jungle, cloud forest, fern forest, moss forest

Description: Wet rainforest has trees growing close together, with little or no space between their leafy canopies, unless a tree has recently fallen. This forms a closed canopy, where more than 80% of the light from above is blocked from entering the forest. There are usually many different species of tree growing in the one forest. There may be vines, tree-ferns or palms present. Ferns, orchids and mosses may be growing on the trunks and branches of trees. Some trees may have buttress roots. The forest floor is usually dark and moist, with plenty of leaf litter. Grasses are rare.

Some animals that use this habitat type: Southern cassowary, green catbird, Albert’s lyrebird, red-legged pademelon, noisy pitta, regent bowerbird, Lumholtz's tree-kangaroo, musky rat-kangaroo, long-nosed bandicoot, land mullet, red-eyed tree frog, blue spiny crayfish.