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Cloud Forest Factoids
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Because cloud forests are found in the mountains, they are much cooler than the hot tropical rainforests most people are familiar with.
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Cloud forest hosts huge numbers of plants and animals; the cloud forests of Monteverde, Costa Rica, host 425 bird species and more varieties of insects than anyone knows!
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Cloud forests are loaded with epiphytes (plants that grow on other plants) because the clouds keep the forest canopy, high above the ground, almost constantly moist.
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Cloud forests play an extremely important role in the hydrology of certain regions of the planet; they capture, store, and filter water that feeds into local communities and large rivers hundreds of miles away.
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Global warming may pose a great threat to cloud forests worldwide, because it could cause these forests to become warmer and drier.
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Hummingbirds and bats are very important pollinators for many cloud forest plants.
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Quinine, a medicine used to treat Malaria, is extracted from the bark of a cloud forest tree; there may be additional cures for diseases that have not yet been discovered.
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Recently, cloud forest amphibian populations have been declining drastically. Scientists are working to find out why.
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Cloud forests are essential for the survival of species such as Resplendent Quetzals and Three-wattled Bellbirds.
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