This holiday season, we invite you to unwrap five new coloring pages created by an artistically talented Rainforest Alliance staff member. These ready-to-print illustrations are an ideal way to introduce your students to a few of the plants and animals that call the rainforest home.

Howler monkeys are the loudest animals in the rainforest. They make loud vocalizations to mark their territory, thus earning their name. Researchers have heard the cries of howler monkeys from a distance of over two miles.

Leafcutter ants practice advanced methods of sustainable agriculture, and operate under one of the most studied social caste systems in the natural world. Careful not to overuse a single source of vegetation, leafcutters gather fragments from different plants and trees. Some leafcutters are equipped with a bacterium that acts as a pesticide on a particular mold, the largest threat to their fungus gardens.

Sloths are among the slowest-moving animals on Earth; they can swim but are virtually unable to walk. They have long, coarse fur that is light brown in color, but often appears green due to the algae that grows there. Instead of toes, their front and hind feet have three curved claws that allow them to easily hook onto tree branches and hang upside-down. Sloths can rotate their heads nearly 90 degrees, and their mouths are shaped so they appear to be permanently smiling.

Armadillos' favorite foods are insects. Their special tongues allow them to consume up to 40,000 ants in one meal! Outfitted in a suit of armor, the head, body, legs and tail of the nine-banded armadillo is protected by bony plates. Armadillos spend most of their time in underground burrows, which means that their sense of smell far out-powers their vision and hearing. About the size of house cats, these creatures have elongated, pointed noses and long, sticky tongues that they use to catch their prey. Their short, strong legs have sharp claws that come in handy when digging burrows.

The Amazon River dolphin comes in all shades of pink, from a dull gray to a flamingo-like pink. Their color variation is due to the clarity of the water in which the dolphin lives; the darker the water, the pinker the dolphin. Excitement also causes the Amazon River dolphin to flush brilliant pink. The sun's rays cause the dolphins to lose their pigmentation, while murky waters help to protect their bright hue.

Learn more about these species and some of the other incredible plants and animals that inhabit the rainforest by visiting our species profiles page.

The coloring pages you just downloaded were created by Anne Yen, a Rainforest Alliance staff member. We asked Anne a few questions about art, education and the importance of conservation.

What do you do at the Rainforest Alliance?
I am the foundation relations associate, which means that I help with research and grantwriting with a focus on foundations and corporate giving.

How do you like working for the Rainforest Alliance?
I love it! Our focus on helping to protect biodiversity and working with communities to earn sustainable livelihoods is a groundbreaking approach to conservation.

When did you start drawing?
My first memory of illustrating wildlife was when my 2nd grade teacher caught me drawing a wood duck during class. Because they roosted in trees around her home, she happened to adore wood ducks. So while the other children worked, I was allowed to draw.

Do you have any advice for aspiring artists/illustrators?
Keep practicing, develop your own unique style, and practice some more. I've also found it helpful to continue taking classes both to learn new techniques and skills and to get feedback.

What role does education play in environmental conservation?
The education of young people will help to shape their roles and opinions later in life. Environmental education instills in youth the fact that we are all interconnected, that what we do in our everyday lives can have a profound and far-reaching impact.

The plants and animals that live in the rainforest are part of a web of life, each species playing a key role in the healthy maintenance of the entire ecosystem. Help your students learn about the interconnectedness of rainforest plants and animals while researching and illustrating their own animal profiles.

Read The Great Kapok Tree, by Lynne Cherry. Make a list of all the plants and animals that depend on this magnificent tree for their survival.

Have the students each choose one species from the list. They should then research the habitat and diet of the species and draw a picture to illustrate it. Ask the students to stand in a large circle each holding their illustration. One at a time, each student identifies the organism they are representing and decides how they are connected to another organism in the circle. A length of rope or string is then passed to that organism. The goal is to finish with a web and demonstrate the intricate web of life.

Ask your students to identify the interconnectedness of life in their backyards.

Find out some more ideas that will help your students understand the interconnectedness of ecosystems.

Volvo Adventure, in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme, is sponsoring an award to recognize young people (between the ages of 10 - 16) who are working to improve their local environment. Outstanding projects will be selected for an all expenses paid trip to Sweden to present their project at a conference in Göteborg and winners have the chance to receive awards of up to $10,000. Teams must include between 2 to 5 young people and have a supervising adult. Deadline for submitting a project is January 31st, 2007.

Teachers interested in using the film "An Inconvenient Truth" in their classrooms can sign up for a complementary copy of the DVD. Fifty thousand copies of the acclaimed documentary will be donated on a first-come-first-serve basis to United States teachers from Monday, December 18, 2006 through Thursday, January 18, 2007. A free curriculum guide is also available for download.

Inspired Teacher Scholarships for Visual Learning, is offering 30 scholarships to support the professional development activities for educators who are champions of visual learning and technology in the classroom. Scholarships will fund participation in workshops, conferences, or graduate courses. The application deadline is January 11, 2007.

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© 2006 Rainforest Alliance