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'Jungle' usually refers to a dense forest in a hot climate, such as a tropical rainforest. About 6% of the Earth's surface is classified as jungle. Jungles are vital to sustaining the ecosystems of the Earth as we know it. About 40% of all species live in jungle environments (see BBC link).
The word jungle originates from a Sanskrit word ''jangala'', meaning "desert". In many languages of the Indian subcontinent, including Indian English, it is generally used to refer to any wild, untended or uncultivated land, including forest, scrub, or desert landscapes.
Sometimes an urban environment can be called a jungle, as "concrete jungle".
The term may still be used in a technical context to describe the forest biome rainforest, a forest characterised by extensive biodiversity and densely tangled undergrowth including young trees, vines and lianas, and herbaceous plants. As a forest biome, "jungles" are present in both equatorial and tropical climatic zones, and are associated with preclimax stages of the rainforest. For this reason, jungle is to be distinguished from tropical rainforest in that the former is a profuse thicket of tropical shrubs, vines, and small trees growing in areas outside the light-blocking canopy of a tropical rainforest. Hence, jungle may be found at the edges of such forests.
Not all regions called "jungles" would qualify as "rain forests" because many would apply "jungle" to the forests of northern Thailand or southern Guangdong in China: but scientifically, these are "monsoon forests" or "tropical deciduous forests" but not "rain forests".

Contents

Jungles in art and literature

See also

External links

Jungles in art and literature

Many examples can be found in art and literature: the fanciful jungle paintings of Henri Rousseau, ''Heart of Darkness'' by Joseph Conrad, ''The Jungle Book'' by Rudyard Kipling, and ''Tarzan'' by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

See also

★ Forest

★ Rainforest

External links

★ BBC interactive site

★ Link illustrating Biomes