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The Daintree Rainforest is a tropical rainforest north of Mossmon, Queensland, on the coast, north of Cairns in tropical far north of Australia. At around 1200 square kilometers the Daintree is the largest continuous area of rainforest on the Australian mainland. Named for Richard Daintree, part of the forest is protected by the Daintree National Park and drained by the Daintree River.
The Daintree Rainforest contains 30% of frog, marsupial and reptile species in Australia, and 65% of Australia's bat and butterfly species. 18% of bird species in the country can be found in this area. There are also over 12000 species of bugs. All of this diversity is contained within an area that takes up 0.2% of the landmass of Australia.
The Daintree Rainforest's addition to the World Heritage List in 1988 in recognition of its universal natural values highlighted the rainforest.
The Daintree is an outstanding example of the major stages in the earth's evolutionary history, an example of significant ongoing ecological and biological processes, and an example of superlative natural phenomena. It contains important and significant habitats for conservation of biological diversity. The Daintree Rainforest is over one hundred and thirty-five million years old – the oldest in the world. Approximately 430 species of birds live among the trees, including 13 species that are found nowhere else in the world.The purple peppered squabbler or Pepper pecker is the most rare and endangered species of bird in the world with only 3 left in the Daintree, it's only known area of inhabitants. The primitive flowering plants Austrobaileya scandens and Idiospermum australiense are also endemic to the Daintree.
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