Nature guide

Daintree Rainforest

The Daintree Rainforest is located on the North-East coast of Queensland. Take a look at the map below.

The Daintree

Rainforest

Natural Features

The natural features of a place or the natural environment includes everything that occurs naturally. All living things, climate, weather and natural resources (such as water) are all part of the natural environment.

The Daintree Rainforest is around 1,200 square kilometres and is the largest area of tropical rainforest in Australia. The Daintree Rainforest in unique because it grows right to the edge of the sea. The Daintree area combines tropical rainforest, white sandy beaches, coral reefs and meets the crocodile infested Daintree River.

The Daintree Rainforest is one of the most beautiful, natural environments Australia has and was named one of the Icons of Queensland. The Daintree has survived for millions of years, as Australia became hotter and hotter, the rainforests that covered Australia died. The Daintree is was lucky enough to survive because of its location.

Native Animals

The Daintree Rainforest is one of the most complex rainforest on Earth for the large range of plant and animal species. Unfortunately, the Daintree Rainforest has been labelled the area with the most rare, endangered and threatened animals in the world. This is a result of so many animals suffering from the effects of humans.

Continue reading to read more about the plant and animal species that call the Daintree home.

ULYSSES BUTTERFLY

The Ulysses butterfly is one of the most distinctive and unique butterflies. The beautiful, bold blue the flutters throughout the lush, green rainforest has become a popular tourist sight.

They are easy to spot by not only you but by their predators, this means they have adapted to be incredibly fast flyers. Unfortunately this makes it quite difficult to get a photograph of them.

The Ulysses butterfly is found throughout the Daintree Rainforest and Northern parts of Australia. They live just below the rainforest canopy and can grow up to 1.5cm. Before it is a beautiful butterfly, the Ulysses caterpillar is green and white. They are the same colour as the plants they feed from which provides excellent camouflage from predators.

CASSOWARY

The cassowary is a large bird that cannot fly, similar to an emu. The cassowary is a very endangered species and is a rare find in the Daintree Rainforest. They have a bright blue head and neck with a black body, they also have an orange patch on their neck and two swinging red wattles under their head.

The cassowary is an important part of the rainforest as it has an important role. In the Daintree Rainforest, it is the cassowaries job to eat the seeds of large fruits and scatter the seeds to different parts of the rainforest in order for the plants to spread.

The cassowary have very large claws that they use to dig holes. The cassowary can grow up to 1.75metres tall. They are very shy birds, but if you look hard enough and are lucky you might find one digging around the forest floor.

SALTWATER CROCODILE

The saltwater crocodiles live in the many streams and rivers of the Daintree Rainforest, particularly the Daintree River. They are very dangerous and the main predator of the Daintree area.

Throughout the Daintree the saltwater crocodiles can get to a huge 6metres long and weigh up to 500kg. They have the largest heads, teeth and mouth of all crocodile species. The crocodiles have been a main part of the Daintree Rainforest for as long as the Rainforest has been around.

Saltwater crocodiles are very territorial animals. This means they claim a part of land and water that is theirs and they do not like to share it. Surprisingly, they are very lazy. The like to lie in the sun for most of the day then have a swim at night when they will hunt for food.

Crocodiles are very hard to be seen in the water at night time and are able to sneak up onto their prey. Be careful if you decide to go swimming in the Daintree Rainforest, make sure its a crocodile free zone!

WITCHETTY GRUB

While the witchetty grub is not as beautiful as the ulysses butterfly, the witchetty grub was a very important part of 'bush tucker' many, many years ago. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people relied on the witchetty grub for a source of food.

The witchetty grub lives under the bark of large gum trees. They are a very thick worm like insect. They are white with dark stripe type patterns on them.

The witchetty grub is very high in protein and a yummy and adventurous treat for the brave!

Native Plants

The Daintree Rainforest is one of the biggest ecosystems in Australia and most of the world. This means it has one of the biggest amounts of plant species. Unfortunately, like the animals, the Daintree has a large amount of endangered and threatened plant species.

DAINTREE FAN PALM

The Daintree fan palm is one of the most distinctive plants in the rainforest. This plant can grow to approximately 6metres tall with the branches reaching 2metres wide. It gets its name from the large fan like leaves.

The Daintree fan palm prefers shady and very wet areas. This makes the forest floor of the Daintree Rainforest a perfect location to spot them.

WAIT-A-WHILE VINE

The wait-a-while vine is one you need to look out for in the Daintree Rainforest. This vine hangs from the top canopy of the rainforest and many reach all the way to the forest floor. They may look harmless to begin with, but once you take a closer look they have sharp hooked spines.

These hooked spines can hook themselves onto anything that comes close enough. It can hook onto your clothes or your skin as you walk by. Once you keep walking it hooks itself in further. This is where the name comes from, you need to 'wait a while' and untangled yourself before you continue walking.

MANGROVE

The mangrove lives in wet tropical environments, the Daintree Rainforest is the perfect location for it. They can be found all along the coastline of Queensland.

Mangroves are one of the only plants that enjoy salt water.

The mangroves have a very clever system in their roots that works as a filter to not poison the entire plant with the salt in the water. The mangrove choose one of its older leaves and filters all the salt to that one leaf, that way only one leaf has to die. Once that leaf has died, it will choose another old one and starts the system again.

It is very easy to spot this leaf that the salt is being filtered to because of the colour. This one leaf will be a completely different colour to the rest of the leaves, normally yellow.

THE GREEN DINOSAUR PLANT

The green dinosaur plant is one of the most important plants in the Daintree Rainforest. This is because the plant is approximately 130 million years old. The Green Dinosaur is only found within the Daintree Rainforest.

The discovery of this plant happened when the poisonous seeds of the fruit killed many cows in a farmer's field. This accident helped scientists learn about the plant and how the Daintree Rainforest is today.

The green dinosaur can grow up to about 40 metres high. It has simple leaves and white to pale pink flowers. Each flower produces 3 or 4 seeds. While it has been around for a long time, it is now a rare species to find, this is because it is poisonous to animals so they are unable to eat the seeds and spread the plant.

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Daintree Rainforest

Nature Guide

The Daintree Rainforest is located on the North-East coast of Queensland. Take a look at the map below.

The Daintree

Rainforest

Natural Features

The natural features of a place or the natural environment includes everything that occurs naturally. All living things, climate, weather and natural resources (such as water) are all part of the natural environment.

​

​

Native Animals

​

Continue reading to read more about the plant and animal species that call the Daintree home.

ULYSSES BUTTERFLY

The Ulysses butterfly is one of the most distinctive and unique butterflies. The beautiful, bold blue the flutters throughout the lush, green rainforest has become a popular tourist sight.

​

They are easy to spot by not only you but by their predators, this means they have adapted to be incredibly fast flyers. Unfortunately this makes it quite difficult to get a photograph of them.

​

​

CASSOWARY

​

The cassowary is an important part of the rainforest as it has an important role. In the Daintree Rainforest, it is the cassowaries job to eat the seeds of large fruits and scatter the seeds to different parts of the rainforest in order for the plants to spread.

​

The cassowary have very large claws that they use to dig holes. The cassowary can grow up to 1.75metres tall. They are very shy birds, but if you look hard enough and are lucky you might find one digging around the forest floor.

​

​

SALTWATER CROCODILE

The saltwater crocodiles live in the many streams and rivers of the Daintree Rainforest, particularly the Daintree River. They are very dangerous and the main predator of the Daintree area.

​

Throughout the Daintree the saltwater crocodiles can get to a huge 6metres long and weigh up to 500kg. They have the largest heads, teeth and mouth of all crocodile species. The crocodiles have been a main part of the Daintree Rainforest for as long as the Rainforest has been around.

​

Saltwater crocodiles are very territorial animals. This means they claim a part of land and water that is theirs and they do not like to share it. Surprisingly, they are very lazy. The like to lie in the sun for most of the day then have a swim at night when they will hunt for food.

​

Crocodiles are very hard to be seen in the water at night time and are able to sneak up onto their prey. Be careful if you decide to go swimming in the Daintree Rainforest, make sure its a crocodile free zone!

​

​

​

WITCHETTY GRUB

While the witchetty grub is not as beautiful as the ulysses butterfly, the witchetty grub was a very important part of 'bush tucker' many, many years ago. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people relied on the witchetty grub for a source of food.

​

The witchetty grub lives under the bark of large gum trees. They are a very thick worm like insect. They are white with dark stripe type patterns on them.

​

The witchetty grub is very high in protein and a yummy and adventurous treat for the brave!

​

​

Native Plants

The Daintree Rainforest is one of the biggest ecosystems in Australia and most of the world. This means it has one of the biggest amounts of plant species. Unfortunately, like the animals, the Daintree has a large amount of endangered and threatened plant species.

​

DAINTREE FAN PALM

The Daintree fan palm is one of the most distinctive plants in the rainforest. This plant can grow to approximately 6metres tall with the branches reaching 2metres wide. It gets its name from the large fan like leaves.

​

The Daintree fan palm prefers shady and very wet areas. This makes the forest floor of the Daintree Rainforest a perfect location to spot them.

​

WAIT-A-WHILE VINE

The wait-a-while vine is one you need to look out for in the Daintree Rainforest. This vine hangs from the top canopy of the rainforest and many reach all the way to the forest floor. They may look harmless to begin with, but once you take a closer look they have sharp hooked spines.

​

​

MANGROVE

The mangrove lives in wet tropical environments, the Daintree Rainforest is the perfect location for it. They can be found all along the coastline of Queensland.

Mangroves are one of the only plants that enjoy salt water.

​

It is very easy to spot this leaf that the salt is being filtered to because of the colour. This one leaf will be a completely different colour to the rest of the leaves, normally yellow.

THE GREEN DINOSAUR PLANT

The green dinosaur plant is one of the most important plants in the Daintree Rainforest. This is because the plant is approximately 130 million years old. The Green Dinosaur is only found within the Daintree Rainforest.

​

The discovery of this plant happened when the poisonous seeds of the fruit killed many cows in a farmer's field. This accident helped scientists learn about the plant and how the Daintree Rainforest is today.

​

​

​

For more fun facts and photos