Stretching around the equatorial girth of the planet in a broad green belt are the earth's tropical rain forests, nine million square miles of what certainly must be original Creation. The crucible of evolution. The greatest assemblage of biodiversity anywhere. Nearly half of all known terrestrial species are found in this thick, wet heat and, amazingly, we have only identified a fraction of them. This final, seductive frontier contains millions more genetic pools waiting to be discovered.

And there is more here than biodiversity. There's the longest and widest river in the world (the Amazon), with pink sunsets and dolphins to match. There are big cats in Amazonia, great apes in Borneo, and giant flesh-eating flowers in Sumatra. A butterfly in New Guinea has a twelve inch wingspan, bigger than a lot of birds. There are flying squirrels and howler monkeys. Archer fish squirt water at insects on land, spiders eat birds, and ants cut leaves. Fig trees strangle other trees. There are tiny frogs with poison and huge snakes without. Fish eat people and sharks eat plants. And then there's the tiny catfish that swims up the human urethra and hangs on for dear life. Any one for a swim? The list is endless and the treasure hunt goes on.