Why jungle edges are Minecraft’s rarest biome

Minecraft’s jungle edge biome can be found along the outskirts of the game’s main jungles. Introduced to Minecraft to make for a smoother transition along the main jungle biome’s borders, jungle edges have a lot of similarities with jungle biomes. Vegetation in these biomes is vibrant and bright, and mobs such as parrots and pandas will sometimes spawn.

However, the jungle edge biome only appears when certain in-game conditions can be met, jungle edges don’t generate often and are the rarest biome in Minecraft.

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What are jungle edges?

Jungle edges are biomes that can be found on the borders of Minecraft’s jungles, and serve as a smooth transition along the biome's borders. Jungle edge biomes can appear similar to jungles, but there are still a few notable differences:

• Although trees will and can still generate in jungle edges, they won’t reach the same giant size.
• Players won’t find jungle pyramids in this biome. The structures just won’t generate there.
• When held up against the plants in the game’s main jungle biome, jungle edges’ vegetation can be a little bit dim - though it’s still pretty bright compared to most of Minecraft biomes’ vegetation.

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Why are jungle edges Minecraft's rarest biome?

An aerial image of Minecraft's modified jungle edge biome (Image via Minecraft)

There are several factors which can influence whether or not a jungle edge biome will be generated, including:

Neighboring biomes

Jungle edges can only spawn if a jungle biome is bordering another compatible biome, and will not appear if a jungle biome borders a forest or taiga biome.

Size

These biomes are pretty small, with some jungle edges measuring less than 10 blocks in length. This means that the biome doesn’t cover much of the area in Minecraft’s Overworld, and makes jungle edges statistically less common.

Bodies of water

Jungle edges can and will be replaced by bodies of water such as rivers, and by land formations such as beaches. In the case of modified jungle edge biomes (the rarest type of jungle edge biome) a jungle biome would need to spawn next to a swamp hills biome. Because both jungles and swamp hills are already pretty rare, the chance of them spawning near each other is very low.