The Great Expedition Series, Book 17

A Million Whys: The Rainforest Expedition for Curious Kids

By Crafty Clover. Published by Million Whys Press.

What Is a Rainforest, and Where in the World Are Rainforests Found? How Do Monkeys Swing and Leap From Branch to Branch? Why Do Leafcutter Ants Carry Pieces of Leaves They Never Eat? This book answers 150 questions like these, one question per page, each with a short video answer. Six expeditions: Layers of the Forest, Warm, Wet & Always Growing, Life in the Canopy, Clever Plants & Giant Leaves, Partners, Tricks & Tiny Rulers, and Scientists, Products & Saving the Green.

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All 150 questions

Tap a question to watch its video and read the answer.

Expedition 1: Layers of the Forest

1. What Is a Rainforest, and Where in the World Are Rainforests Found?
2. How Is a Tropical Rainforest Different From a Temperate Rainforest?
3. Why Do Tropical Rainforests Grow in a Belt Around the Middle of the Earth?
4. What Are the Four Layers of a Rainforest?
5. Why Do a Few Rainforest Trees Poke Up Above All the Others?
6. Why Is the Canopy Called the Roof of the Forest?
7. What Is the Understory, and Why Is It So Still and Shady?
8. Why Is the Rainforest Floor So Dark?
9. Why Are So Many Rainforest Trees Tall and Skinny with No Branches Near the Ground?
10. How Tall Can a Rainforest Tree Grow?
11. Why Does the Air Under the Trees Feel Like a Warm, Wet Blanket?
12. Why Does the Temperature Stay Almost the Same All Year in a Rainforest?
13. How Many Kinds of Living Things Live in a Rainforest?
14. Why Can a Small Patch of Rainforest Hold Hundreds of Kinds of Trees?
15. Why Is a Rainforest So Loud?
16. Why Does the Rainforest Smell Earthy and a Little Sweet?
17. Are Rainforests Really the Lungs of the Earth?
18. Why Are There So Many Insects in Rainforests?
19. How Do So Many Animals Share One Rainforest Without Crowding Each Other Out?
20. What Is a Cloud Forest?
21. What Lives in a Temperate Rainforest on the Pacific Coast?
22. Why Are Temperate Rainforests Covered in Moss?
23. Why Do Some Rainforests Flood for Part of the Year?
24. Where Are the Biggest Rainforests on Earth?
25. How Old Are Rainforests?

Expedition 2: Warm, Wet & Always Growing

26. What Happens to a Raindrop on Its Way Down Through the Forest?
27. Why Does It Rain Almost Every Afternoon in Some Rainforests?
28. How Does a Rainforest Help Make Its Own Rain?
29. What Are the Flying Rivers of the Amazon?
30. Why Does Mist Rise From the Forest After a Storm?
31. Why Is Rainforest Soil Poor Even Though Plants Grow So Thickly?
32. How Can Giant Trees Grow in Poor Soil?
33. Why Does a Fallen Leaf Disappear in Just a Few Weeks?
34. Why Do Mushrooms and Other Fungi Love the Forest Floor?
35. Why Are Termites and Beetles Good for a Forest?
36. What Happens When a Giant Tree Falls in a Rainforest?
37. Why Do Tiny Seedlings Wait in the Shade for Years?
38. Why Can a Tropical Sapling Shoot Up So Quickly?
39. How Do Rainforest Trees Soak Up Carbon Dioxide and Store It?
40. Why Is the Rio Negro Black Like Tea?
41. Where Do Animals Shelter When It Pours in the Rainforest?
42. What Are Sunflecks, and How Do Small Plants Use Them?
43. How Do Scientists Measure the Weather Inside a Rainforest?
44. Why Do Some Tropical Forests Drop Their Leaves in the Dry Season?
45. What Does a Rainforest Look Like From Space?
46. What Is the Difference Between a Rainforest and a Jungle?
47. What Is Humus, and Why Is the Layer of Good Soil So Thin in a Rainforest?
48. How Does a Forest Heal Itself After a Storm or Landslide?
49. Can a Rainforest Change the Weather Far Away?
50. How Do Insects and Frogs Take Advantage of the Rainy Season?

Expedition 3: Life in the Canopy

51. How Do Monkeys Swing and Leap From Branch to Branch?
52. Why Do Some Monkeys Have Tails That Can Grab Like a Hand?
53. How Do Animals Glide From Tree to Tree?
54. How Do Tree Frogs Stick to Leaves?
55. What Is the Smallest Frog in the World?
56. Why Are So Many Rainforest Birds Brightly Colored?
57. How Do Fruit Bats Find Ripe Fruit in the Dark?
58. Why Do Howler Monkeys Howl So Loudly?
59. How Do Weaver Ants Build Nests From Living Leaves?
60. How Do Sleeping Animals Stay Safe in the Treetops?
61. How Can a Snake Climb a Smooth Tree Trunk?
62. Why Do Orangutans Build a New Bed in the Trees Each Night?
63. How Do Chimpanzees Use Sticks as Tools?
64. How Can a Frog Become See-Through?
65. Why Do Butterflies Gather at Muddy Puddles?
66. Why Do Animals Use Vines as Highways?
67. How Do Rainforest Animals Avoid Shouting Over One Another?
68. Why Do Some Rainforest Animals Eat Clay?
69. How Do Animals High in the Canopy Get Water to Drink?
70. Who Shows Up When a Fig Tree Is Full of Fruit?
71. How Can One Rainforest Tree Hold Thousands of Insects?
72. Why Do Monkeys Spend So Much Time Grooming Each Other?
73. How Do Canopy Animals Know Which Tree Is Fruiting?
74. Why Do Morpho Butterflies Flash Bright Blue?
75. Why Do So Many Animals Live in the Canopy Instead of on the Ground?

Expedition 4: Clever Plants & Giant Leaves

76. Why Do Rainforest Leaves Have Long, Pointed “Drip Tips”?
77. Why Do Some Rainforest Trees Have Giant Flared Roots Like Walls?
78. What Is an Epiphyte, and Why Do Some Plants Grow on Other Plants?
79. How Do Bromeliads Hold Tiny Ponds in the Treetops?
80. How Does a Strangler Fig Grow Around Another Tree?
81. Why Are Orchid Seeds as Tiny as Dust?
82. Why Do Some Plants on the Forest Floor Have Leaves as Big as Umbrellas?
83. What Is the Titan Arum, and Why Does It Smell Terrible?
84. How Do Pitcher Plants Trap Insects?
85. Why Are Leaves at the Top of the Canopy Smaller and Tougher than Those Below?
86. Why Do the Leaves of a Sensitive Plant Fold Up When Touched?
87. How Can a Vine Grow Hundreds of Feet Without a Thick Trunk?
88. How Does a Cacao Pod Turn Into Chocolate?
89. Why Do Some Tropical Fruit Trees Grow Flowers and Fruit Right on Their Trunks?
90. Why Do Rainforest Fruits Come in So Many Colors?
91. Why Do Some Rainforest Seeds Spin Like Helicopters?
92. Why Can’t Brazil Nut Trees Grow Well Without a Rodent and a Bee?
93. How Do Some Rainforest Plants Call for Bodyguards?
94. Why Do Some Tree Trunks Bristle with Spikes?
95. What Is the World’s Biggest Flower, and Why Does It Have No Leaves?
96. Which Plant Has the Longest Leaves in the World?
97. Why Are Young Leaves on Many Rainforest Trees Red or Pink?
98. How Can a Giant Water Lily Leaf Be So Big and So Strong?
99. How Do Rainforest Plants Race Each Other for Sunlight?
100. Do Scientists Still Find New Rainforest Plants?

Expedition 5: Partners, Tricks & Tiny Rulers

101. Why Do Leafcutter Ants Carry Pieces of Leaves They Never Eat?
102. How Do Army Ants Build Bridges with Their Own Bodies?
103. Why Do Some Ants Live Inside Special Trees?
104. How Do Fig Wasps and Fig Trees Depend on Each Other?
105. What Does It Mean When Two Living Things Are Partners?
106. How Do Hummingbirds and Heliconia Flowers Fit Together Like a Lock and Key?
107. Why Do Birds Visit Red Flowers but Bees Prefer Blue and Yellow?
108. How Do Some Birds Follow Army Ants to Find Food?
109. How Does a Bucket Orchid Make Bees Take a Bath?
110. How Do Dung Beetles Help the Forest Floor?
111. How Do Poison Dart Frog Parents Carry Tadpoles to Tiny Pools?
112. How Can a Frog Smaller than Your Thumb Be So Loud?
113. Why Do Some Rainforest Spiders Live Together in Giant Webs?
114. Why Are There More Kinds of Beetles than Anything Else?
115. Why Do Some Rainforest Bees Have No Sting?
116. Why Does the Atlas Moth Have No Mouth as an Adult?
117. What Lives in a Handful of Rainforest Soil?
118. How Strong Is a Rhinoceros Beetle?
119. How Do Big Fruit-Eating Birds Plant New Trees?
120. How Do Glasswing Butterflies Get See-Through Wings?
121. Why Does the Durian Fruit Smell So Strong?
122. Who Works the Night Shift in the Rainforest?
123. What Tiny Flies Pollinate Chocolate Trees?
124. What Is a Keystone Species in a Rainforest?
125. What Can Happen to a Rainforest If One Kind of Animal Disappears?

Expedition 6: Scientists, Products & Saving the Green

126. How Do Scientists Reach the Top of a Rainforest?
127. What Is a Canopy Walkway, and Why Do People Build Them?
128. How Do Scientists Use Sound Recorders to Listen to a Rainforest?
129. How Do Drones and Lasers Help Scientists Map a Rainforest?
130. How Can Two Look-Alike Rainforest Animals Turn Out to Be Different Species?
131. Why Do Scientists Put Numbered Tags on Rainforest Trees?
132. What Medicines Come From Rainforest Plants?
133. Which Foods That We Eat Began in Tropical Forests?
134. Which Tree Gives Us the Stretchy Material Called Natural Rubber?
135. How Is Chewing Gum Linked to a Rainforest Tree?
136. Why Does Soil Wash Away When Rainforest Trees Are Cut?
137. Why Are Some Rainforests Getting Smaller?
138. What Happens to Animals When a Forest Is Cut Into Small Pieces?
139. What Is Ecotourism, and How Can Visits Help a Forest?
140. What Is Shade-Grown Coffee and Why Does It Help Forests?
141. How Does Planting Trees Help Heal a Rainforest?
142. What Can Kids Do to Help Rainforests?
143. What Jobs Do People Have Studying and Protecting Rainforests?
144. How Do Rangers Help Protect Rainforest Animals and Plants?
145. What Is a Protected Area, and Why Do Rainforests Need Them?
146. How Do Wildlife Rescue Centers Help Animals Return to the Forest?
147. Why Do Rainforests Matter to People Who Live Far Away?
148. How Do Birds That Visit Your Backyard Depend on Rainforests?
149. How Can a Jar of Plants Show How a Rainforest Recycles Water?
150. What Do Scientists Still Wonder About Rainforests?