The Daintree Rainforest has outlived the dinosaurs. It’s older than the Amazon rainforest. This 180 million-year-old rainforest has an ancient energy that feels older than the Earth itself.
How has this 180 million-year-old rainforest survived?
The Amazon rainforest is about 55 million years old. The dinosaurs are estimated to have lived around 66 million years ago. The Daintree Rainforest is 180 million years old, making it older than both.
Some of the world’s rainforests are so old that it’s impossible to put an actual date on them. So, although it isn’t easy to estimate just how old the rainforest is, it’s likely to be around 180 million years old. It’s even outlived the dinosaurs. The major earth-shattering disaster that wiped out the dinosaurs still didn’t wipe out the Daintree. It’s a stubborn ecosystem.
It’s safe to say the Daintree has withstood various stages of climate change and global planetary events that had previously wiped out entire ecosystems.
The Daintree is a living time capsule
Walk around the Daintree, and it’s like being transported to a different world.
Although it’s not recognised as an official natural wonder of the world, it most certainly is a natural wonder of Australia. It’s unique in that it has its very own ecosystems and has become self-sufficient.
One example of this is the relationship between cassowaries and the Daintree.
Cassowaries are a ‘keystone’ of the rainforest, which means they are of crucial importance to the Daintree’s overall health…they are important to the seed dispersal, and deposit many different seeds around the rainforest.
They swallow large fruits whole and then deposit their seeds through their poop! Their digestion germinates the seeds, which are then dropped on the ground.
Just imagine…this symbiotic relationship has developed over millions and millions of years…it goes to show just how old this rainforest is. It’s developed its mini-universe that teems with life.
The saltwater crocodile and the southern cassowary echo the dinosaurs.
The cassowary is said to be the closest living thing we have to a velociraptor.
Take a walk around the Daintree and it’s easy to imagine that dinosaurs would’ve thrived in this climate. It’s like being in a living version of Jurassic Park!
And as crocodiles are able to go without food for up to a whole year, it’s easy to see how these animals are on top of the food chain thanks to their ability to adapt.
How do we know how old the Daintree Rainforest is?
Fossil evidence
The fossils in the Daintree have provided us with evidence of how old the Daintree is
Fossils of plants such as the ‘green dinosaur’ show us just how old the Daintree is.
The Green Dinosaur plant is a rare species of plant that has been associated with dinosaurs. This plant is officially called the Idiospermum.
Plant fossils
The discovery of other plant fossils, such as fossilised versions of the ferns and cyads we can see today, is living proof that not much has changed at all over the last few tens of millions of years.
What does this tell us? The ecosystems have stayed stable for a long time! Even though the rest of the landscapes surrounding the Daintree might have been changing dramatically, the rainforest has continued to flourish, thrive and grow with the same plant species it’s always had. This indicates that the rainforest has been self-sufficient in its ecosystem for millennia.
Genetics
Through studying the spectrum of different plants that grow in the rainforest, we can see that the Daintree is home to some of the oldest plants in the world.
The Daintree is the only place that has stayed wet in the whole of Australia. It explains why places like Uluru and the red centre are so dry and deserty, but Far North Queensland is home to some of the wet tropics. That’s because it’s developed its ecosystem that is separate to the arid conditions of it’s neighbouring states.