The concept “tropical rain forest” was used for the first time by the German botanist Andreas Schimper in 1898. The tropical rain forest is one of the most fascinating habitats of our planet. Nowhere else in the world holds a more varied fauna and flora of different species often living in complicated symbiosis.

Instead of seasons the rain forest has rain periods, hence the name rain forest: it rains a lot here, almost every day! The warm and humid climate is perfect for plants the whole year through. Particular of the rain forest is that 70 % of all the animals and plants living on our planet have their habitat here. But no one can tell for certain, as millions of species still remain undiscovered.

The rain forest consists mainly of trees that build a dense canopy at about 20 – 30 metres and therefore hardly any light reaches the ground. This also is the reason why the rain forest looks like a sea of green when seen from above.

You can experience the fascination of the rain forest at the Biosph�re Potsdam. You can observe 20.000 tropical plants and trees, amphibians, reptiles, fish, birds, spiders and insects in their natural habitat. Let us carry you away into the kingdom of the Tropics at a comfortable temperature of 23-28 °C and introduce you to one of the most important ecosystems of our planet.