Taiga facts Kids Encyclopedia Facts

The taiga is found throughout the high northern latitudes, just below the tundra, and just above the steppes.

Black Spruce taiga, Copper River, Alaska.

The taiga (IPA pronunciation: /'taɪgə/ or /taɪ 'ga/, from Mongolian) is a large area of coniferous forests. It covers most of inland Alaska, Canada, Sweden, Finland, inland Norway, northern Kazakhstan and Russia (especially Siberia), as well as parts of the extreme northern continental United States.

In Canada, boreal forest is the term used to refer to the southern part of these forests, while "taiga" is used to describe the northern areas south of the Arctic tree line.

The climate is cold winters and cool summers.

Images

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  Boreal forest near Shovel Point in Tettegouche State Park, along the northern shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota.

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  Late September in the fjords near Narvik, Norway. This oceanic part of the forest can see more than 1,000 mm precipitation annually and has warmer winters than the vast inland taiga

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  Boreal forest near Lake Baikal in Russia

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  Jack pine cones and morels after fire in a boreal forest.

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  Brown bear, Kamchatka peninsula. Brown bears are among the largest and most widespread taiga omnivores.

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  Plesetsk Cosmodrome is situated in the taiga

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  Seney National Wildlife Refuge

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  Peat bog in Dalarna, Sweden. Bogs and peatland are widespread in the taiga. They are home to a unique flora, and store vast amounts of carbon. In western Eurasia, the Scots pine is common in the boreal forest.

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  White spruce taiga, Denali Highway, Alaska Range, Alaska

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  Moss (Ptilium crista-castrensis) cover on the floor of taiga