Rainforests grow in the tropics. Near the equator, there are areas which are hot and wet throughout the year. These regions support tall evergreen trees, such as ebony, mahogany and teak. The leaves of the trees block out sunlight from the muddy forest floor, so that few plants can grow there. The largest equatorial forests are in the Amazon basin of South America and the Zaire (or Congo) basin of Africa. Most wild animals live in the trees. Most people live in forest clearings. They grow food crops such as cassava, manioc and sweet potatoes. Large plantations produce cocoa, coffee, palm-oil, rubber and sugar-cane.
There are similar tropical forests in the monsoon lands of southern Asia and north-eastern Australia, where there is a dry season. But these forests are often less dense than equatorial forests. They also contain some trees that shed their leaves before the dry season in order to conserve water. Rice is the main food crop in monsoon lands. Equatorial and tropical forests are now being rapidly cut down.
