Animals that live in a tropical dry forest must adapt to months of little rainfall followed by a brief season of heavy rain. Most dry forests exist in the tropics, where average temperatures rarely fall below 63 degrees F. One of the best places to spot the wildlife living in the dry forest requires heading to one of the few waterholes that remain wet in the dry season. Most wildlife congregates at these moist places until the rain starts to fall again.
Reptiles call the tropical dry forest home, including the Angonoka tortoise, an endangered species that primarily lives in Madagascar. A distinct feature of the tortoise is the lower shell that protrudes from between its front legs. The tortoise does not mate until it reaches about 20 years in age. The female lays up to seven different clutches of about two to six eggs each during mating season. The newly hatched turtles are no larger than ping-pong balls, but they immediately start looking for their own food as soon as they leave the nest.
Primates of the dry forest include the aye-aye, a lemur in Madagascar. The lemur looks like a large house cat with the face of a weasel. Other features include bright green eyes and black hands with a bony middle finger used to find insect larvae living inside tree bark. The lemur taps on the bark of a tree and listens for hollow cavities that might contain insects. Once it finds a promising spot on the bark, it gnaws at the wood until it reaches the larvae. Several species of monkeys live in the dry forest, including howler monkeys that eat green leaves and fruit. During the drier seasons, the monkeys move to areas of the forest along small stream beds that still contain water, where they live in close proximity to other monkeys.
Animals that prey on other animals for food live in the dry rain forest, including the mountain lion, one of the largest predators in the Sierra de la Laguna forest in Baja California. The smaller bobcat also thrives in the region. Other carnivores include kit and gray foxes and coyotes. Raccoons and skunks that prey on small animals wait until the cooler evening hours to hunt.
Shrews and rats use special adaptations to live in the dry rain forest. The Merriam's kangaroo rat, commonly found in the dry forest of Sierra de la Laguna in Baja California, hunts only at night, when temperatures are cooler. Hunting in the evening helps conserve water while days are spent in underground burrows to keep away from the hot sun. The rat's large ears help it disperse heat, and its large nasal passages help retain moisture. Since the creature loses lots of moisture during respiration, it gets moisture from its nasal membranes that tend to stay cooler.