Jungle versus rainforest

JUNGLE, s. Hind. and Mahr. jangal, from Skt. jaṇgala. The native word means in strictness only waste, uncultivated ground; then, such ground covered with shrubs, trees or long grass; and thence again the Anglo-Indian application is to forest, or other wild growth, rather than to the fact that it is not cultivated. A forest; a thicket; a tangled wilderness.

Storeys of canopies

A rainforest by contrast is a layered interconnected ecosystem linked by vertical vines. Everything is reaching for the light, including this strangler fig enveloping its host tree. Most of the biodiversity is in the middle and upper storeys, leaving the leaf-littered forest floor surprisingly easy to traverse.