麻豆官网首页入口

The rainforest canopy has an ecology of its own, a place where there is little breeze and where the leaves cut out most of the sunshine. Here each leaf is angled to catch the most light possible and many have a special joint at the base of their stem which allows them to twist towards the sun as it crosses overhead. Insects are everywhere, in myriad shapes and sizes. Some prey on others but most live off the trees, eating the seeds, sipping the nectar, sucking the sap and munching the leaves. Weaver ants use the leaves as walls for their nests, using the colony's grubs as tubes of glue, gently squeezing them to produce threads of sticky silk which they use to bond the leaves together. Eventually they produce an enclosed globe within which they can rear their young. Monkeys like the South American squirrel monkey spend much of their time in the canopy in search of leaves, shoots and buds.