Location
The tropical rainforest biome is located close to the equator between the Tropic of Cancer (23.5ºN latitude) and the Tropic of Capricorn (23.5º S latitude). This is a 3,000 mile band called the "tropics." There are three main places where tropical rainforests are found. The first of these places is Central America in the Amazon river basin. The second location is in Africa in the Zaire basin with small tropical rainforests in West Africa and Madagascar. The last of these places is in Indo-Malaysia along the west coast of India, Assam, Southeast Asia, New Guinea and Queensland, and Australia. Each of these three major locations has a different animal and plant species. Tropical rainforests currently cover less than 6% of earth's surface and the biome is quickly becoming smaller and smaller.