PLANET EARTH Seasonal Forests
Across the Equator, in the southern hemisphere there are seasonal forests that mirror those of the north. Here in South America araucaria trees（南洋杉树） or monkey puzzles are like the conifers of the Taiga. They have waterproof scales, instead of needles and their cones look a little different but the principles are the same. Slender billed parakeets（长尾鹦鹉） rather than crossbills, extract their seeds.
Where the growing season is longer, there are alerce trees, the redwoods of the south. As in the frozen north, the Valdivian forests of Chile support very few animals but that is the end of the similarity. This is a bizarre world of miniature creatures. The pudu（普度鹿）, the world's smallest deer feeds on the giant leaves of the gunnera plant. The female is just thirty centimeters high at the shoulder and her infants are hardly bigger than kittens.
The male must stay alert. There are hunters here who would snatch his young. Another miniature. The kodkod cat. It's the smallest cat in all the Americas and a young pudu would be a feast for it. But, with the male on guard, the kodkod must lower his sights. Moths are hatching. They're the last of the summer. The tiny cat should be able to score with these.
