The Heart of Borneo Years later, Salazar found herself in a rain forest. She was on the island of Borneo. She bent over to flick the leeches off her socks. She could see the blood-sucking worms inching toward her along the ground. Yuck! Salazar had come to take pictures
of the plants and animals living here. A rain forest used to cover nearly all of Borneo. But over the past 50 years, more than half of the forest has been cleared. Logging companies chop down trees for lumber. Plantation owners clear land to grow palm trees. Mining companies mine for coal. Only part of the forest remains. It’s called the Heart of Borneo. Every rain forest is special, but the
Heart of Borneo is a crown jewel. Scientists think it may have the greatest biodiversity, or variety of life, of any place on Earth.
View from a Sacred Mountain T e biodiversity here is being threatened, though. Logging and farming take place even in the Heart of Borneo. T at’s why Salazar was there. She
was hoping she could do something to protect the remaining rain forest. Her assignment was to document all the plants and animals that live here. Salazar and the team were climbing
an unexplored mountain. She soon discovered that this was a tough place to work. Wet, spongy moss carpeted the forest floor near the top of the mountain. Her feet plunged into the moss as if it was a thick layer of snow. To move more easily, Salazar
dropped to the ground. She crawled on all fours over roots, fallen trees, and rocks. T is also put her eye-level with wild orchids and insect-eating pitcher plants. All along the way, she took a lot of pictures. Aſt er three days, the team reached
the top of the mountain. Salazar thought about all she had seen on the way up. She hoped that her photos would show how precious the plants and animals she saw are.
Salazar snapped a photo of this stink bug crawling down a leaf in the rain forest.
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