Daintree Rainforest
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Daintree Rainforest is a rainforest near Daintree, Queensland, named after Richard Daintree. It is one of the oldest rainforests on the planet and is the home of the Idiot fruit. Part of the forest is protected by the Daintree National Park. The forest is drained by the Daintree River.
The Daintree Rainforest lies on the coast, north of Cairns in tropical far north of Australia. This patch of forest is one of the most diverse and beautiful examples of nature in the world. It is home to the largest range of plants and animals on earth, and all are found within the largest chunk of rainforest in Australia - an area spanning approximately 1200 square kilometres.
This World Heritage listed area contains the highest number of plant and animal species that are rare, or threatened with extinction, anywhere in the world. The Daintree Rainforest is a unique area, precariously balanced between the advances of development and the environmentalists wanting to preserve the forests exceptional qualities.
"The Daintree Rainforest contains 30% of frog, marsupial and reptile species in Australia, and 65% of Australia's bat and butterfly species. 20% of bird species in the country can be found in this area. All of this diversity is contained within an area that takes up 0.2% of the landmass of Australia."(http://daintreerainforest.com/)
There are over 1000 species of plants in the Daintree forest. Some of these plants are over 3000 years old. [[Citing sources citation needed]]
A plan called "Buy Back" was created by the Austrialian government to help protect Daintree Rainforest. The plan was to buy back most of the privately owned forest land for conservation purposes. Unfortunately, half of the money was spent surveying, and not enough money remained to purchase all the privately owned land, so the forest is still at risk. [[Citing sources citation needed]]
It is an area of great tourism and special interest to many people. It could even be said to be one of the most beautiful places on Earth.
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