Did you know that the boreal forest, or Taiga, covers 9% of all land on Earth and is the largest terrestrial biome in the world? The boreal forest extends across the northern US and Canada, southern Iceland, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and northern Japan.

The boreal forest has a subarctic climate with a very wide temperature range between seasons, but the long, cold winter is the dominant feature. Taiga sleeps most of the year. At the beginning of April, the forest is dormant and only the first signs of life are noticeable. The green leaves of lingonberries, pines, and firs add some color to the image, but the rest of the forest has a rather dull monochrome palette. But in a couple of months, this forest will be full of life, sounds and colors. Billions of birds, from tiny wrens to great cranes, will return from the south to continue the cycle of life and give birth to their young. They migrate thousands of miles each year. This is amazing, but they know the truth of life. The only northern boreal forest can give them enough to grow.

6 facts about Taiga

1. The word “borealis” may be more familiar due to the phenomenon of the aurora borealis or aurora borealis. The best places to view the lights are northwestern Canada, Alaska, the southern tip of Greenland and Iceland, the northern coast of Norway, and the coastal waters north of Siberia. Winters, with average temperatures below zero, last from five to seven months. The lowest temperatures recorded in the northern hemisphere were recorded in the Taiga of northeastern Russia. Temperatures range from -54°C to 30°C (-65°F to 86°F) throughout the year.

2. The boreal forest is home to 85 species of mammals, 130 species of fish, some 32,000 species of insects and 300 species of birds. Of the 300 species of birds that live in the boreal forest during the summer, only 30 stay during the winter. The boreal forest stores huge amounts of carbon, possibly more than temperate and tropical forests combined.

3. Most of the boreal forest emerged at the end of the last Ice Age about 10,000 years ago, with coniferous tree species migrating north. The forest as we know it today in terms of biodiversity was formed about 5,000 years ago, just a few seconds ago on the geological time scale.

4. Boreal forest soils are often acidic, due to falling pine needles, and low in nutrients, since cold temperatures don’t allow much foliage to rot into soil.

5. Taiga is one of the most threatened by climate change and has experienced some of the most dramatic temperature rises anywhere on Earth. Not to mention the threat of clear-cutting for toilet paper, logging and, in Canada, drilling for oil from tar sands that now covers an area larger than England.

6. Humanity is responsible for most of the forest loss around the world. The main cause of deforestation in Taiga is logging. Russia and Canada (along with Brazil in the tropics) had the largest gross forest cover loss between 2012 and 2014.