Ten Fun Facts! 1. Taiga/boreal forest is the Russian word for forest. 2. In the taiga/boreal forest biome, the average annual rainfall is aproximately 33 inches. 3. It is believed that more than 32,000 species of insects live in the taiga/boreal forest biome. 4. Many of the animals that live in the taiga/boreal forest biome are able to change color based on the time of year. 5. The trunks of the conifer trees in the taiga/boreal forest are used to produce paper. 6. The world's oldest trees can be found in the taiga/boreal forest. The bristlecone pines in California are a prime example. One of them is 4,600 years old! 7. Scientists believe that the area covered by the taiga/boreal forest will decrease by 50-90% over the next 50 years, causing many species to become endangered and extinct. 8. Winter, with its below freezing temperatures, usually lasts about 6-7 months while the hot and rainy summer is much shorter. 9. In the taiga/boreal forest, leaves are needles on all the trees. 10. An interesting fact about the taiga/boreal forest is that as the seasons change rapidly, the weather goes from one extreme to another.