Temperature, cold and hot places

The imaginary line running around the Earth’s middle is the equator. It divides the Earth into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Near the equator sunlight falls almost straight down, so these places are hot all year and have almost no winter. Where rain is scarce there are savannas and deserts; where it is plentiful there are tropical rainforests (jungle). The savanna is a tropical grassland: grass, acacia and baobab trees grow, and elephants, giraffes, zebras, lions, cheetahs and rhinos live there. A dry season and a rainy season alternate. In the rainforest it rains all year, plants grow in layers, and trees are covered with lianas and moss. By the Amazon live jaguars, sloths, capybaras, parrots, hummingbirds and piranhas. Elephants live in the forests of India and in African savannas.