The Taiga: Largest Biome on Earth
By Amanda Loedding
What's it like in the taiga?
The taiga stretches across the northern part of North America and Eurasia, and it's the largest biome on earth.
Animals and Plants in the Taiga
There are many animals that make the taiga their home. The most common are the American Black bear, the bald eagle, the bobcat, the Canadian lynx, the gray wolf, the grizzly bear, the long-eared owl, the red fox, the river otter, the snowshoe rabbit, and the wolverine.
The American Black Bear
The American Black bear is what you picture when you hear about bears, and it's a common bear in the taiga. It can climb trees and it eats plants and vegetation, carcasses, small mammals, insects, and honey. It adapted to its environment by developing a winter coat when the weather turns cold to protect it from the drop in temperature.
Bald Eagle
These eagles are majestic creatures that dwell in the taiga, making their nests in trees, cliffs, and the ground. They like their food dead, but are prepared to attack small mammals to eat. This eagle's sharp eyesight has helped it adapt so that it can find its prey.
Bobcat
Bobcats like to hang out in the taiga as well. They live in the mountains, swamps, and forests. It is a carnivore, which means that it eats small mammals such as mice, squirrels, rabbits, and game birds that live on the ground. The bobcat has adapted to its environment by way of its coat color. The stripy spots allow it to blend in with the trees more easily so it can stalk its prey.
River Otter
The river otter lives in thick woods, lakes, swamps, rocks, logs near grassy areas, streams, rivers, and mostly fresh water. It eats fish, shellfish, crustaceans, snails, beetles, amphibians, and other small mammals. The river otter has adapted to its environment by learning to either wrap kelp around his leg or by holding hands with another while it sleeps so that it doesn't drift downstream.
Snowshoe Rabbit
The snowshoe rabbit lives in the forest where thick underbrush is plentiful, and tends to move around the United States part of the taiga throughout the year. It has adapted to the changing seasons; its coat changes from brown in the spring and summer to white in the fall and winter. In the picture above, it's spring and this snowshoe rabbit is in the middle of changing from white to brown, and half melted snow is on the ground around it.
Food Web
Predator/Prey
In the taiga biome, there are a lot of predator/prey relationships. The gray wolf eats rabbits, as well as the bobcat. The long-eared owel eats rodents and mice. The rabbit is eaten by fox and wolverines. The bald eagle also preys on small animals such as rodents and mice.
The Canadian Lynx
This house cat-like animal is an endangered species in the taiga.
Snow Leopard
This is another species of cat that is endangered in the taiga.
Black Spruce tree
This tree is common and native to the taiga biome. It has adapted to be able to survive the cold of the winter by developing pine needles, which are a waxy, very very thin leaf that grows in bunches of three and are resistant to the cold. It also has pine cones that prevent animals such as elk, deer, and moose from eating its leaves or seeds.
Paper Birch tree
This is another common tree that thrives in the taiga biome. Its bark is white and peels horizontally (you can see this in the pictures; the trees appear to have stripes across their trunks), sort of like paper, thus the name Paper birch. These trees grow alone or in clusters of two or more, and they can grow to be as tall as eighty feet tall. Its nuts grow in cones, and its flowers grow in the form of a catkin. A catkin is a long, scaly spike which has a very small flower in it. This adaptation is to keep animals such as birds or deer from eating the paper birch's nuts or flowers.
Jack Pine tree
This pine tree is very common in the wild. It also has seeds that grow in the shape of cones and needles instead of leaves. These two adaptations is to keep predators from eating its leaves and seeds.
White Fir tree
This tree is an evergreen tree that is often used for Christmas trees in the home. Its leaves and bark are waxy so they don't die as easily in the winter.
Balsam Fir
This fir is also an evergreen tree with waxy needle leaves that keep it from dying in the winter.
Climate
Global Importance
The taiga biome is very important because it has a lot of trees which produce oxygen. Many of these trees are also used to build houses and as Christmas trees.