Rainforests are Earth’s oldest living ecosystems, with some surviving in their present form for at least 70 million years. It is an area of tall, mostly evergreen trees and a high amount of rainfall.
Rainforests are very important to the global ecosystem but due to some reasons, they are now one of the most endangered places in the world. Human activities for example logging, over-collection of plants, and commercial development cause rainforests to shrink. The rainforests listed below are thousands, even millions of years old. All of them are endangered but by spreading awareness about them, they can still be saved.
5) Réunion National Park
Age: 2-2.5 million years
Location: Island of Réunion
Type: Tropical
Area: 406.89 sq mi (1,053.84 km²)
In 2007, Réunion National Park officially became a protected site on the island of Réunion. It is nearly as old as the island itself that emerged over 3 million years ago. The island sits on top of a volcanic spot. There is one active and one dormant which makes it two volcanoes on the island. The slopes of both volcanoes are heavily forested
Réunion National Park holds about 43 of the 2,000 vertebrae species on the island and most of the 1,600 native plant species were found. It is untamed nature but a small cultivated interior with farming livestock and crops exists.
Fun fact: Réunion National Park covers about 42% of the entire island.
4) Amazon Rainforest
Age: over 55 million years
Location: Brazil (60%), Peru (13%), and Colombia (10%); minor amounts in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana
Type: Tropical
Area: 2.1 million sq mi (5.5 million km²)
The Amazon Rainforest may not be the oldest rainforest but it is indeed the most biodiverse and largest tropical rainforest in the world. As a matter of fact, the Amazon Rainforest is so huge that it represents over the other half of the Earth’s rainforests. About 10% of the world’s discovered biodiversity, including endemic and threatened flora and fauna, is found within this rainforest.
Not only that, a large number of native people still live in the Amazon rainforest. There are about 9% which is 2.7 million of the Amazon’s population that still comes from indigenous people which consists of 350 different ethnic groups. More than 60 are still largely isolated. The Amazon Rainforest plays a huge part in the world’s climate function but over the recent decades, many sections of this rainforest have been destroyed. All because of deforestation.
Fun fact: The Amazon Rainforest contains about 90-140 billion metric tons of carbon, which makes its destruction even more dangerous. If all of this carbon were released, it would significantly increase global warming.
3) Taman Negara
Age: over 130 million years
Location: Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan, Malaysia
Type: Tropical
Area: 1,677 sq mi (4,343 km²)
The Daintree Rainforest is much older compared to Taman Negara but for some reason, it is often mistaken as the “world’s oldest rainforest”. It might not be the oldest but it is extremely old as the estimated age is over 130 million years.
Taman Negara was established in 1938 as the first officially protected area in Malaysia. In order to form Taman Negara, The Sultans of Kelantan, Pahang, and Terengganu each set aside a piece of their lands. Like the other rainforests, Taman Negara is a popular tourist destination. One of the best attractions there is the canopy walk. It is a long suspension bridge of 510 meters, 1,673 feet from the ground, across the forest’s high treetop.
Fun fact: Taman Negara was originally named King George V National Park, but was renamed after Malaysia gained its independence in 1957.
2) Borneo Lowland Rainforest
Age: about 140 million years
Location: Borneo (shared by Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia)
Type: Tropical
Area: 165,100 sq mi (427,500 km²)
Aged about 140 million years old, The Borneo Lowland Rainforest covers a huge part of Borneo island. In the past, the rainforest used to completely covered the island. Borneo is home to over 15,000 species of flowering plants, 3,000 species of greens, 221 species of mundane animals, and 420 species of birds.
Sadly, it is estimated that Borneo has lost about 30% of its forest due to intense deforestation over the past 40 years.
Fun fact: The Borneo Lowland Rainforest is the only place where the Bornean Orangutan, which is only one of two remaining species of Orangutan in the world, can be found in the wild.
1) Daintree Forest
Pictures: Oldest.orgAge: 180 million years
Location: Northeast coast of Queensland, Australia
Type: Tropical
Area: ~460 sq mi (1,200 km²)
The oldest rainforest in the world, The Daintree Rainforest is estimated to be about 180 million years. It is also one of the largest continuous areas of rainforest in Australia and it covers about 460 square miles.
This rainforest has such a long and rich history. It is also home to about 30% of Australia’s frog, reptile, and marsupial species. Other than that, 65% of the country’s bat and butterfly species as well as 18% of all bird species live in the rainforest too. There are also over 1,200 species of insects living in the Daintree Rainforest. In fact, the Daintree Rainforest is a famous tourist attraction and received over 400,000 visitors every year.
Fun fact: The Daintree Rainforest is so old that it is home to 12 out of the 19 total primitive flowering plant families found on Earth.
Sources: Oldest.org