" ...this sidehill rain forest was a choking vegetable metropolis. The competition was fierce, deadly. The soil was thin, and roots could take no firm grip in it, so trees tottered and leaned, one against the other. Vines, like tentacles, lashed out and wrapped themselves around this branch or that. Parasitic flowers erupted everywhere. Branches, vines, and strange bits of bushy foliage twisted and snaked about through the tortured, thorny gloom, looking for a place in which to steal the sun." (Tim Cahill, Jaguars Ripped My Flesh)

" So finally I began to scream at him. 'What the hell are you doing here anyway? Why don't you go home to Oklahoma, see some good doctors, eat some good food, get fixed up?' He gazed at me tranquilly out of his rheumy washed-out blue eyes and sat there dressed like the last of the beachcombers with that disgraceful house crumbling and tilting around him. God, the whole thing was just unbelievable. 'What are you doing here for God's sake?' I yelled into his deaf old ears, leaning right up into his face so that he would have to hear me. 'Why are you here anyway?' And now hearing me he smiled a secret and superior smile, as though he knew something that I didn't, and croaked out in an old voice that was equal parts W.C. Fields and Edward G. Robinson, 'It's the lure of the tropics, boy; it's the lure of the tropics.'" (Moritz Thomsen, The Farm on the River Emeralds)

" Never had humanity experienced such a harrowing test, and it will never experience such another, unless, some day, millions of miles from our own world, we discover some other globe, inhabited by thinking beings. We have at least the advantage of knowing that the distance can in theory be bridged, whereas the early navigators feared they might be venturing into the void." (Lévi-Strauss, Tristes Tropiques)

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White Jag

The introductory chapter to my upcoming bookWhite Jag . Because of copyrighting concerns, only the introduction can be distributed at this time.

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Rebuilding the Rain Forests of Krakatau

An article originally published inThe World & I that explains what the destruction and rebuilding process of the rain forests covering the island of Krakatau may say about the effects of rain forest destruction worldwide.

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Tropical Night

An article that describes the ecology and wildlife of rain forests at night.

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Amazon History

An article explaining the history of the Amazon rain forests and the new theories that help us understand the rich diversity of the current ecosystem.

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Rain Forest Related Discussion Lists

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Science-specific moderated discussion about rain forests. This list is dedicated to discussions concerning all scientific aspects of rain forests. Messages are screened for content before being posted to the list. Only posts related to the scientific aspects of rain forests will be forwarded. All other non-scientific posts should be sent to the unmoderated list.

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Rain Forest WWW Sites

Click here for a list of links to other Rain Forest Sites if you are using Netscape 2.x
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Page last updated June 6, 1996. All material Copyright © 1996 Dr. Nicholas B. Carter.
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