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Where Is the Oldest Rainforest on Earth?

GeographyNature

Quick Answer

The Daintree Rainforest in northeastern Queensland, Australia, is estimated to be around 180 million years old.

The Full Story

The Daintree Rainforest, covering about 1,200 km² in tropical North Queensland, is widely considered the oldest continuously surviving tropical rainforest on Earth, with an estimated age of 180 million years — predating the Amazon by at least 100 million years. It is part of the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Area and contains an extraordinary concentration of ancient plant lineages, including primitive flowering plants, ferns, and cycads. The Daintree is also notable for its high biodiversity: it contains 30% of Australia frog species, 65% of its butterfly species, and 18% of its bird species, all within just 0.01% of the continent area.

Key Facts

1.The Daintree is one of the few places where rainforest meets a coral reef — it borders the Great Barrier Reef.
2.The cassowary, a large flightless bird critical for seed dispersal in the Daintree, is considered endangered.
3.Some Daintree plant species are "living fossils" with close relatives found only in the fossil record from the age of dinosaurs.

YouTube Angle

Suggested video title for this topic:

"The Daintree — Walking Through 180 Million Years of History"