Located in the drainage basin of the Amazon River, the Amazon is the world’s largest tropical rainforest (“The Amazon Basin Forest”, n.d.). It is mostly a lowlands forest with some mountainous areas, and it has more biodiversity than any other single area on the planet. It is hot, humid, and very damp (Butler, 2017), and although some areas have a “rainy” season and a “dry” season, there is rainfall year round, often created by the rainforest itself from the large amounts of transpiration and moisture from the rainfall which add to the local humidity and form cloud cover (Butler, 2017). The Amazon rainforest is stratified and is primarily evergreen, with huge trees that have smooth trunks and widespread roots (“Amazon Forest Ecology”, n.d.). Most rainforest life is congregated in the canopy, a dense ceiling of closely spaced branches and trees 25-30 m off the ground that is constantly abuzz with activity. Above the canopy are the few emergent trees that can reach up to 60 m, while below in the sub-canopy are the trees that grow towards the light openings in the canopy, and in the understory below that are the small trees and shrubs that are adapted to low-light conditions (“Amazon Forest Ecology”, n.d.). The bottom layer is the forest floor, full of tree trunks, fungi, and low-growing vegetation (Butler, 2012), and it is here, deep in the rainforest, that Mycospondylus mesanyctus spends its days. Named for the mushroom-like growths on its back, the “moon” on its forehead, its blue-black coloration, and its nocturnal lifestyle, Mycospondylus mesanyctus—the Mushroom-Spined Midnight cat—is commonly known as the “Midnight Cat”.
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