The forest floor receives less than 2 percent of the sunshine overhead, so few plants grow in this lowest layer of the tropical rain forest. The Madagascar hissing cockroach and the giant African millipede both eat dead and decomposing leaves, providing nutrients to the soil when they defecate. Termites and earthworms also enrich the soil, allowing the tall trees to thrive. Larger animals, such as giant anteaters and jaguars, prowl the forest floor.
Plants in the understory layer -- similar to the forest floor with its lack of sun -- have adapted long, broad leaves to capture the sunlight necessary for photosynthesis. Along with small animals found in abundance this layer, insects attract predators such as red-eyed tree frogs and antbirds, notes EnchantedLearning.com. Wild cats such as jaguars lie in the branches of the understory layer and watch for prey below.
Along with lemurs and spider monkeys, primates such as the orangutan adapt to living in the trees of the rain forest canopy, to the point that they never need to leave the tree branches, explains RainForestAnimals.net, which reports that orangutans sleep there in fresh-built nests each night. Rhett A. Butler writes on Mongabay.com that sloths -- who move so slowly green algae grows on their fur, providing natural camouflage -- hang upside-down from the branches.
The treetops make up the highest part of the rain forest, known as the emergent layer. Colorful parrots and eagles build their nests here; at night, bats hunt flying insects that populate this region, such as blue morpho butterflies, which gather above the trees to mate. As the branches are flimsy this high up, the emergent layer lacks the heavier predators, such as big cats.
