With added Christmas lights, palm trees really liven up the atmosphere, even during the darkest days of winter.

About 60 percent of all vascular plants are found in the tropical forest.” Yang Yong, chair of the Species Survival ...

So how did the impact transform the sparse, conifer-rich tropical forests of the dinosaur age into the rainforests of today, with their towering trees dotted with multi-coloured blossoms and orchids?

Sea monsters, sharks, and blood-red plankton. Forests of ferns, cycads, and conifers. Warm, moist, tropical breezes. This was the Jurassic, which took place 199 to 145 million years ago.