30 Wild Facts About the Boreal Forest

The boreal forest is the world's largest land-based biome.1 Spreading over continents and covering many countries, the boreal plays a significant role in the planet's biodiversity and even its climate.2 Here are 30 facts to know about this incredible space.

The boreal forest is named after Boreas, the Greek god of the Northwind.
The biome is known as boreal in Canada but is also known as taiga, a Russian word. Taiga is most commonly used to refer to the biome's more barren northern locations while boreal is used for the more temperate, southern area (we're just using boreal for ease).
The boreal covers most of inland Canada and Alaska, most of Sweden, Finland, and inland Norway, much of Russia, and the northern parts of Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Japan.The boreal represents nearly 30% of the world's forest cover.3
Canada contains 9% of the world's forests. 77% of Canadian forests are in the boreal zone.4
The largest area of wetlands in any ecosystem of the world is found in the Canadian boreal region, containing more lakes and rivers than any similarly sized landmass on Earth!5
There are two major types of boreal forest—the closed canopy forest in the South, which has the longest, warmest growing season of the biome, and the high boreal forest with farther-spaced trees and lichen ground cover.
There is little rainfall in the boreal biome. Precipitation comes in the form of fog and snow, with a little rain during the summer months.
While typically low on biodiversity, the boreal around the globe supports a range of animals. Canada's boreal forest is home to 85 species of mammals, 130 species of fish, some 32,000 species of insects, and 300 species of birds.6