# 26-#30: Choose the best answer to fill in the blanks and make the passage meaningful, logical and comprehensible. Tropical rain forests are warm, wet biomes near or at the equator. ____26____. More species inhabit tropical rain forests than all other biomes combined. The temperature stays around 80°F both day and night, all year long. Annual rainfall averages 100 to 200 inches and falls throughout the year. Rain forests are sometimes called jungles. The ground, or floor, of the forest is in almost total shade. A layer of shrubs and trees called the understory grows from about ten to fifty feet above the floor. ____27____. Here flowers find sunlight, and arboreal, or tree-dwelling, animals make their homes. Uncounted species of invertebrates, amphibians, reptiles, and birds live in tropical rain forests, along with monkeys, leopards, and other mammals. Rain forests cover only two percent of the earth’s surface, but more than half of all plants and animals live there. ____28____. The human population of the region is growing fast. To make room for farming, ranching, and other activities, people cut or burn down the forest. Some experts estimate that 10 acres of rain forest are destroyed each minutes. ____29____. More than half of the world’s rain forests have been chopped down in the last thirty years. This destruction has led to the loss of countless species of animals and plants. They have either died out or are in danger of becoming extinct. If the tropical rain forests were to be destroyed, the balance of nature of the whole world might change. ____30____.