DK-Amazing Animals Q & A
DK-Amazing Animals Q & A
DK-Amazing Animals Q & A
ANIMALS Q&A
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Contents
Senses Fight or Flight Extreme Living On the Move Index 8 20 40 50 60 Camouflage and Color 30
Senses
Are eight eyes better than two? Who can see best in the dark? Are big ears helpful? Do birds have noses? Who loves a sugary drink?
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Q Why do snails have eyes on stalks? A Snails need to see, but they also
need to fit inside their shells. Having eyes on stalks lets them do both. Their eyestalks are long and thin, which gives them a good view. But if a hungry bird lands near a snail, the eye-stalks shrink, like tiny telescopes folding up. This lets the snail disappear fully inside its shell.
Eye at the tip of each eye-stalk
Garden snail
Jumping spider
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Q Who has the largest eyes of all? A These belong to the giant squid.
This deep-sea animal can measure more than 23 ft (7 m) long with eyes up to 20 in (50 cm) across. Giant squid use their huge eyes to seek out fish and other animals in the murky depths of the sea.
Eye is made of tiny compartments packed together Common squid
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n Scallops have dozens of tiny blue eyes around the two halves of their shells to help them detect movement. n When frogs and toads swallow, their eyes move downward to help push their food toward the stomach. n In addition to having two main eyes, most insects have three tiny ones on the tops of their heads.
Four-eyed fish
Head of a horsefly
Q How do an insects eyes work? A Insect eyes are very different from
ours. They are hard instead of soft, and they are divided into hundreds or thousands of tiny compartments. Each compartment is like a mini-eye, and they work together to give the insect a view of its surroundings. Some insectssuch as dragonflies and horseflies have big, bulging eyes. They can see in every direction at once without having to move their heads.
Eye has a silvery lining that reflects light back into the eye
n The four-eyed fish lives in shallow water, and each of its eyes is divided in two. The bottom part looks downward into the water, while the top part looks upward into the air.
Thomsons gazelle
Red kite
Q Do earthworms have any eyes? A No, they dont. Instead, they have
tiny light sensors all over their bodies mostly on their heads and tails. These sensors are too small to see things in any detail. They simply tell a worm how much light there is. If a worm is dug up, it uses its light sensors to crawl away from the light, back to safety underground.
Close-up view of worms head
Common earthworm
Q How do cats eyes change after dark? A In bright sunshine, the pupils in
a cats eyes look like narrow slits. This shape stops the cat from being dazzled, because it prevents too much light getting in. After dark, the pupils widen until they are circular, letting far more light into the eyes. This change gives cats the best of both worlds. They can see well during the daytime and also after dark.
Pupils wide open in dim light
Scops owl
Domestic cat
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Lesser bushbaby
Q Why do moths fly toward light? A In nature, moths often use the
Moon like a compass, to help them find their way. But if a moth flies near a house, bright lights can upset its navigation system. Instead of flying past the light, the moth keeps turning toward it, until it ends up spiraling around it, or fluttering at a window. Moths cant help doing this, and fly away if the light is switched off.
agile, even though they only move around at night. They live in trees and often leap through the darkness as they scamper from branch to branch. They can do this because their eyes have a special layer at the back, which works like a mirror. It reflects light back into their eyes, giving them a brighter view. Many nocturnal mammals share this way of seeing in the dark.
Pink tentacles on nose Star-nosed mole
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n Owls cannot move their eyes in their sockets, so they have to turn their heads to look around them. n Some lizards have such long tongues that they can use them to wipe their eyes. n Snakes do not have any eyelids, so they cannot blink. Their eyes stay wide open even when they are asleep. n The blind cave fish, from Central America, does not have any eyes. It finds its way by sensing faint waves of pressure in the water around it.
Blind cave fish
Q Which animal sees with its nose? A The star-nosed mole has tiny eyes,
and is almost totally blind. But at the end of its nose, it has a circle of 22 bright pink fleshy tentacles. These tentacles can move, and they work like tiny fingers. The mole uses them to find its way, andeven more importantlyto find its food. These moles spend most of their lives in burrows, where seeing with tentacles is more useful than seeing with eyes.
Q What helps a snake to see in the dark? A Rattlesnakes and their relatives are
specially equipped for hunting after dark. In front of their eyes, they have a pair of special hollows, or pits. These pits contain hundreds of tiny sensors, which can detect heat. If the snake comes close to a warmblooded animalsuch as a mouse or a hareit can detect its prey by the heat that it gives off.
Pit viper
Q How do bats find food with their ears? A Long-eared bats hunt insects after
dark. Instead of looking for insects, they find them by making high-pitched clicks as they flit through the air. If an insect is in range, the bat hears the echoes that bounce back, and uses them to guide it toward its prey. This way of steering is called echolocation. Most insect-eating bats track down food in this way.
Fennec fox
Q Which mammal has the best hearing? A Elephants are good at hearing lowpitched sounds, but the tiny fennec fox is much better at hearing sounds that are faint or high-pitched. The fox lives in the Sahara Desert, where it comes out at night to feed on insects and lizards. Its outsize ears can pick up the sound of a single beetle as it scurries across the ground. They also help the fox to keep cool by giving off body heat.
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Q Which insect has ears near its knees? A Unlike mammals, insects dont
always have ears on their heads. Crickets have an ear on each front leg, just below the knee. The ear does not have a flap instead, it is a small oval slit. Hearing is important to crickets because the males sing to attract a mate. Grasshoppers sing as well, but their ears are on the sides of their bodies, just beneath their wings.
Brown longeared bat Close-up view of ear on front leg Mexican milksnake
Snout helps to focus the bats clicks Ear shape is unique, like a human fingerprint
Q Is it true that snakes are deaf? A Unlike lizards, snakes do not have
ears, but even so, they are not completely deaf. Scientists are not sure exactly how they hear, but they probably feel sound waves with their bodies and with sensors inside their heads. Snakes are known to be very good at feeling vibrations in the ground. If they sense footsteps heading toward them, most of them quickly slither away.
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Female African elephant
Q Do frogs and toads have ears? A Yesif you look closely at a frog
or a toad, its ears are often easy to see. Instead of sticking out, each one is like a circular patch, just behind the eyes. This patch is an eardrum, and it vibrates when it picks up sound. Frogs and toads can be noisy animals, particularly at breeding time. They use their ears to listen for each others calls, so that they can find a mate.
n Dolphins use echolocation to find food, and to steer clear of the seabed after dark. n Rhinoceros ears swivel around, allowing them to hear sounds from almost any direction. n Although giraffes were thought to be mute, scientists now believe that they communicate with each other at a level too low to be heard by humans.
Rhino dung
Q What do rhinos do with their dung? A Some animals bury their dung,
but rhinoceroses do just the opposite they put it on display. They leave their dung in piles, which can measure more than 3 ft (1 m) across. A large male can have up to 30 piles, which he visits almost every day. Rhinos use these dung piles to mark the edges of their territory. It works well, because they have poor eyesight, but an excellent sense of smell.
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Q Who has the keenest sense of smell? A Male moths break all records
with their sense of smell. Their feathery antennae work like noses, because they collect particles of scent given off by female moths as they flutter through the air. Some males are so good at this that they can sense a single female moth more than 6 miles (10 km) away. At this distance, the scent is millions of times too faint for a human nose to detect.
Males have feathery antennae the best shape for collecting scent
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n Monitor lizards smell in the same way as snakes, by flicking out their tongues. The biggest monitorthe Komodo dragonhas a tongue that can be 12 in (30 cm) long. n The kiwi is the only bird with nostrils at the end of its beak. It probes damp soil after dark, sniffing out earthworms and insects. n Sharks use smell to track down prey. Those that live in open water can smell blood from miles away. Bottomfeeders, like the Port Jackson shark, smell animals hiding on the seabed.
Port Jackson shark
Q Who is the best animal detective? A All dogs have a good sense of
smell, but a bloodhounds is more than 10 million times better than a humans. These dogs can detect the smell of a persons skin cells even if they are several days old, and they can stay on the right trail even if the person has walked through crowded places, such as shopping malls. Smells are identified by scent receptors in the dogs nasal chambers, and the bloodhound has extra-large chambers. Bloodhounds can be used to help solve crimes.
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Rufous-tailed hummingbird
Q Can flies taste with their feet? A Yes, they canand so can some
other insects, such as butterflies. This way of tasting is a great time-saver, because it tells insects if they are on food as soon as they land. Houseflies use their feet like this whenever they settle indoors. If they taste something sweet, they mop it up with their tongues, which work like sponges.
Giant anteater
Q Which animal has the longest tongue? A The giant anteater has one of the
longest tongues. It can be 2 ft (60 cm) long, and is covered in sticky saliva and small spines to extract prey from nests and mounds. The anteater flicks its tongue deep into ants nests, collecting up to 30,000 ants a day. Although it has no teeth, the anteater swallows pebbles to crush ants in its stomach.
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n Some of the worlds smallest moths have feelers that are four times as long as their bodies. n European jewel beetles sense the heat from forest fires. They fly toward the heat to lay their eggs on warm tree bark.
n If threatened, a porcupine will back into its enemy, piercing the animal's flesh with its barbed quills. n Cabbage white caterpillars are attracted to the peppery taste of cabbage leaves.
Lobster
n Bird-eating spiders use touch to feel for food when they hunt after dark. n Anchored to rocks in shallow water, a sea anemone waits for small creatures to touch its tentacles. It then attacks with hundreds of tiny stings.
Q Who is the worlds touchiest animal? A Naked mole rats live underground
and have very limited vision. Instead, they rely on their amazing sense of touch. Their skin is practically hairless, but they do have several dozen whiskerlike hairs on each side of their bodies. If just one of these hairs is touched, a mole rat turns around to find out what made it move. Naked mole rats live in family groups, and they feed on plant roots, gnawing them with their sharp front teeth.
Whiskers and bristles used for feeling the way underground
Sea anemone
Tusks can be used to haul walrus out of the water onto the ice
Q Why do walruses have bristly whiskers? A Unlike seals, walruses dive down
to the seabed to eat. They swallow lots of small animals, but they particularly like worms, sea cucumbers, and clams. Where walruses feed, the seabed is often murky, and this is where whiskers are useful. Instead of looking for a meal, walruses feel with their whiskers. When they touch food, they use their mouths like a vacuum cleaner to suck up their prey.
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Who is the largest land predator? 22 Which animal packs a mighty punch? 24 How does a hunter make a kill? 26 Why do skunks kick up a stink? 28
Fight or flight
Q Are bees ever deadly? Yes, they can be. Bees only sting A as a defense mechanism, and
whether it proves deadly depends on the location of the sting. If the bee stings an animals mouth or throat, for example, the danger is greater. For most people, a bee sting hurts as venom is pumped into the body, but the pain goes away. But if someone is allergic to bee stings, their body starts to react. They may find it hard to breathe, and without help, they may die.
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Q How does a jellyfish kill its prey? A Sea wasps, a type of jellyfish,
carry a potent venom in their tentacles. Any small fish brushing against a section of tentacle will probably die. Jellyfish need to kill their prey quickly because they have no way of holding onto them so they cannot swim away. Sea wasps live off the north coast of Australia, and can be a danger to people who swim there.
Fat is stored in the tail as a food reserve for periods of drought
Q Which snake has the strongest venom? A The hook-nosed sea-snake, from
the Indian Ocean, is by far the most venomous snake in the world. On land, the inland taipan from Australia tops the venom list. It contains enough venom to kill about 100 people, but because it is shy, it rarely causes problems.
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n A hippo will attack if it is threatened. It can bite a small boat in two with its powerful jaws and enormous teeth.
Snake can be 8 ft (2.5 m) long Inland taipan Body is covered with small lightbrown scales
n The Brazilian wandering spider has such powerful venom that it can kill people with a single bite. n The tsetse fly, from Africa, is one of the worlds most dangerous insects. It sucks blood to feed, often spreading a fatal disease called sleeping sickness.
Tsetse fly Large eyes
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n Rattlesnakes fight by twining around each other. They keep their mouths shut, so there is no risk of being bitten. n In the Arctic, musk oxen fight by running toward each other at full speed, so that they crash head-on with their horns. n Fights between elephant seals can be extremely fierce. The seals bite each other on the head and neck, and often end up covered with blood. n Scorpions fight by locking their pincers together. This keeps them out of range of each others sting.
Scorpions
Gray kangaroos
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Q How did fighting fish get their name? A Wild fighting fish live in ponds and
Great egrets
streams in Southeast Asia. The females are peaceful, but the males attack each other on sight, biting each other and lashing out with their tails. They are not much longer than a finger, but they make themselves look bigger by opening up their fins. Fighting fish are popular as pets, but because they are aggressive, only one male can be kept in each tank.
Siamese fighting fish
Giraffes
Q Who uses its head to butt in a fight? A Instead of fighting with their
feet, giraffes use their necks and heads. A giraffe braces itself by stiffening its legs, then swinging its head over its shoulders, toward its rivals neck. Often the blow misses, but just occasionally, it hits so hard that the other giraffe may be knocked out.
Q Why do male deer have antlers? A During the breeding season, male
deer use their antlers in tests of strength. Rivals face each other, and then rush forward until their antlers are locked together. They push as hard as they can, until one forces the other backward, and away from the battleground. Once this happens, the loser pulls its antlers free and runs away.
Male deer
Q Can zebras hurt with their hooves? A When zebras fight, they often nip
each other with their large teeth. But when disputes get serious, they swing around and kick out with their back feet. A well-aimed kick hits the opponent in the chest or the ribs, giving it a painful bruise. If zebras are cornered by a predator and cannot run away, they use the same technique. Some zebras also make loud braying noises during a fight.
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Front leg folded back to hold fly Mantis eats fly prey
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More Facts
Powerful toes with sharp claws
n Electric eels kill fish by giving them a 600-volt electric shock. The eels muscles work like batteries, storing up an electric charge. n Instead of making webs, bolas spiders catch flying insects with a single strand of silk. They tip the strand with a blob of glue, and then swing it in the air. n Scorpions use their stings for self-defense, but they tear their prey apart with their claws. n Cone shells are beautiful but deadly. They attack fish with poisonous mouthparts that work like harpoons. They have also killed people who picked them up on beaches at low tide.
Archer fish
Q Which fish shoots down its prey? A Lots of fish leap after insects, but
the archer fish is the only one that shoots them down. It looks for insects on waterside plants, and then takes careful aim. By squeezing its mouth, it squirts a jet of water toward the insect, knocking it off balance and into its waiting jaws.
Poison claws Giant centipede
Birds of preysuch as eagles and hawksdo not hunt with their beaks. Instead, they stab animals with their talons, or extra-sharp claws. Once they have made a kill, they carry the animal back to a perch, where they use their hooked beaks to rip it apart. The smallest birds of prey hunt insects, but the biggest ones can snatch monkeys out of trees.
Cone shell
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Raised tail shows that the skunk is ready to fight back Striped skunk Long, powerful hind legs Brown hare
Q Which animal is quickest off the mark? A Hares have only one way
of protecting themselvesthey run as fast as they can. They have extremely good eyesight, which means that they can start running when a predator is still a long way off. Instead of running in a straight line, hares zigzag their way across open countryside. This unusual technique makes it even harder for another animal to catch them.
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Q Who can dig its way to safety? A Lots of animals make burrows,
but few of them can beat the aardvark at high-speed digging. If it is being pursued, this piglike mammal starts digging furiously with its powerful front claws. If the ground is soft, the animal soon starts to disappear to safety below the surface. When threatened, the aardvark may roll on its back and defend itself with its claws.
Octopus
The millipede has a jointed body case that allows it to curl up into a tight ball when facing danger. It tucks away its fragile body parts as it curls into a tight and inpenetrable ball.
Aardvark
Once danger has passed, the millipede can start to unroll itself and move safely on its way.
Flying fish
Q Which fish can glide through the air? A There is nowhere to hide from
danger near the surface of the sea. For flying fish, this is not a problem. If something chases them, they burst upward through the surface, and then glide through the air on their outstretched fins. Some flying fish trail their tails in the water and use them like propellers. They speed through the air for up to 1,300 ft (400 m), leaving any predator behind.
Ostrich
Why do tigers have stripes? Who has the most colorful face? Which lizard is the best actor? Who uses color to attract a mate?
Q Which bird looks like a piece of wood? A The tawny frogmouth, from
Australia, is one of the worlds best camouflaged birds. It hunts small animals after dark, but spends the day asleep in trees. During the day, it is almost impossible to see. It perches bolt upright, and its gray feathers make it look like a broken branch. It keeps perfectly still so that it does not give itself away.
Gaboon viper
Q Who behaves like a snake in the grass? A The Gaboon viper is armed with
deadly fangs. Out in the open, its intricate markings make it easy to see. When it lies among fallen leaves, however, its camouflage makes it disappear. Gaboon vipers hunt by watching and waiting on the forest floor. If suitable prey comes within range, they immediately strike. This viper has venom powerful enough to kill people.
Q Which lizard plays hide and seek? A The leaf-tailed gecko is expert at
hiding against the bark of a tree. Compared to most lizards, it has a flat body. It also has a tail like a dried-out leaf and gray skin with markings like cracks in wood. These geckos hunt insects at night. If a predator does spot it, the lizard can quickly shed its tail a trick that confuses the enemy while it escapes. A new tail slowly grows back.
Q What looks like seaweed on the move? A Many fish use camouflage, but the
leafy seadragon has a clever disguise. Its body is covered with leaflike flaps, making it look like a piece of drifting weed. It swims with its body upright, but its tiny fins make it one of the slowest fish. These seadragons live off the coast of southern Australia, close to seaweed-covered rocks. If a seadragon is washed up on shore, its leafy flaps soon collapse.
Leafy seadragon
Dead leaves often lie on the ground, so we hardly ever give them a second look. But in some places, they are not what they seem. The Indian leaf butterfly, from southern Asia, mimics dead leaves to keep from being seen. Lots of other insects, including moths and leaf insects, use the same kind of disguise.
This Indian leaf butterfly is resting among some dead leaves. Its beautifully camouflaged wings make it almost impossible to see.
This is the same butterfly, seen from below, with its wings open. Its hindwings each have a tail that looks just like a leaf stalk.
From above, the butterfly looks very different. These bright colors are only visible when the butterfly is in the air.
Treehoppers
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Three-toed sloth
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n Many birds and insects can see colors that are invisible to humans. This is because their eyes can detect ultraviolet light. n The forceps fish changes its colors and its pattern as it grows up. The young and adult fish look as if they belong to two different species.
n Humpback whales have individual black and white markingseach as different as a human fingerprint. n Brown is the most common color in animals, while gold is one of the rarest.
Q What makes sloths turn green? A Sloths feed on leaves and spend
Tiny organisms turn fur green Baby clings to its mothers fur for six months
their lives hanging upside down from the branches of trees. When they are newborns, they have yellowish-brown fur, but they turn green as they grow. This color comes from tiny organisms, called algae. The algae grow on the sloths fur, giving it a greenish tinge and a musty smell. The green color helps to hide sloths from eagles, which often search for prey in the treetops. Strangely, the algae also make a useful snack. They are full of nutrients sloths can lick off.
Arctic fox
Q Why do Arctic foxes go pale in winter? A In the Arctic, a brown fox would
be easy to spot in winter as it would stand out against the snow. Thats why Arctic foxes change color with the seasons. During the summer, most Arctic foxes are grayish-browna color that hides them among grass and rocks. When the summer is over, they grow a white winter coat, which has much thicker and warmer fur.
Q Why are poison dart frogs so colorful? A Many frogs have camouflage
colors, but poison dart frogs are exactly the opposite. These tiny frogs live in Central and South America and are easy to see as they hop over the forest floor. They dont worry about being eaten, because their bodies contain a deadly poison. The bright colors work as a warning sign, showing other animals that they are too dangerous to touch. Forest people once used their poison to tip blowpipe darts.
Q How do leaf beetles get their shine? A These shiny colors are made in a
special way. Instead of being produced by chemicals, they are made by microscopic ridges on the beetles body case. These ridges make light rays interfere with each other, creating colors with a metallic shine. Many other animalsincluding hummingbirds and butterflieshave shiny colors, which are made in a similar way.
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Q Which frog appears to have eyes on its back? A Normally, its a bad idea to turn
your back on danger. But the Chilean four-eyed frog does exactly that. It has a pair of swellings on its sides that look exactly like scary eyes. They lie just above the frogs legs and seem to turn its back into a large and threatening head. These false eyes are actually poison glands. If something does bite the frog, their horrible taste often makes it let go.
Real eyes Chilean foureyed frog
Frilled lizard
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Female plover
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n Some spiders look like ants and move in the same jerky way. Ants can bite and sting, so birds and lizards are tricked into leaving them alone. n The devils coach horse beetle pretends to have a sting. It curls up its tail just like a scorpion. n Hairstreak butterflies may have false heads on their hindwings. The false head draws birds away from the real head.
False head Hairstreak butterfly
Clearwing moth
Q Why do some moths look like wasps? A For moths, looking like a wasp is
a great way of keeping out of trouble. Dressed up in black and yellow stripes, and with two pairs of see-through wings, they look almost like the real thing. Birdsand most humans tooare fooled into thinking that they can sting. Copying wasps is a very common trick in the animal world. Thousands of species of small animals, including flies and spiders, use it as a way to stay safe.
Common wasp
Narrow waist
Sting in tail
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Signaling claw is brightly colored, and too big to use for feeding
Small claw is used for picking food from the mud Male fiddler crab
At sea, sockeye salmon have silvery sides and steel-blue heads. Just before the breeding season, their bodies turn bright red. Millions of sockeyes then head for the coast before swimming up rivers to lakes, where they lay their eggs. The colors act as a signal, showing which adult fish are ready to breed.
Sockeye salmon
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Satin bowerbirds
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Anolis lizards attract females by lowering a throat flap, which looks like a brightly colored flag.
Anolis lizard
Q Which bird gives a puffed-up performance? A Male and female frigate birds look
almost identical as they circle high above the sea. But during the breeding season, the males have a startling way of catching a females eye. Perched in a bush near the waters edge, they puff up a throat pouch that looks like a bright red balloon. Each male keeps his pouch inflated until he has successfully attracted a mate.
Hooked beak for catching fish
Male cracker butterflies make a snapping sound when they fly. The sound attracts females, but keeps other males away. Female fireflies produce light to attract males. Some attract other species, then eat them. A flightless bird, the great bustard, attracts females by fluffing up its feathers. At the height of its performance, the bird looks as if it has turned itself inside out.
Male frigate bird Pouch turns from orange to deep red during breeding season
How do termites avoid the heat? Who acts as a living water tank? Do penguins feel the cold? How do pandas survive on bamboo?
Extreme living
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Q Who makes their own suntan lotion? A Hippos spend the day lazing in
muddy water, often under the blazing sun. Their fur is very thin, but their skin produces a red, oily liquid that stops them from getting burned. This special suntan lotion has other uses as well. It helps to keep away biting insects.
Hippopotamus
Chambers where termites live Nursery chambers containing eggs Queen termites chamber
Shovel-snouted lizard
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Desert tortoises from North America spend more than 90 percent of their lives in burrowsto escape the heat. These endangered reptiles come out mainly at night.
Large poisonous fangs
n Australia, some ants stay active in I temperatures above 122 F (50 C). In this heat, a human would quickly die. Camels have nostrils that they can close to protect against windblown sand. To reduce contact with hot desert sand, sidewinder snakes move by throwing their bodies through the air in a series of sideways leaps.
Q Which bird has built-in sunshades? A Many birds do, and almost all of
them live where its hot and dry. They include ostriches in Africa, and emus in Australia. Their sunshades are feathery eyelashes, which cut out the desert glare. The ground hornbill, an African bird with a bright red face, has the longest lashes.
Water-holding frog
Emu
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Honey ants
Q Can animals survive being dried out? A Some microscopic animals can
survive being as dry as a crisp. One of them is the water beara tiny creature that lives in ponds. If a pond dries up, the water bear dries up too. It can stay like this for months or even years, until water brings it back to life.
Water bear
Stomach
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Aphids (greenfly) can drink more than 20 times their own weight of sugary sap in a day. They get rid of surplus water in sticky drops, called honeydew. Adult African elephants need to drink up to 53 gals (200 liters) of water a day. Pigeons are the only birds that swallow water like we do. All other birds fill up their mouths, and then tilt up their heads.
Many insects spend their entire lives without drinking a drop of water. They include flour beetles, clothes moths, and wood worms.
Flour beetle
Q Which animal never needs to drink? A All animals need water, but not all
of them need to drink. Instead, some get all the water they need from their food. Kangaroo rats are experts at this way of life. They live in deserts and feed mainly on seeds. When they digest the seeds, they release water from their food, and this keeps them alive. Kangaroo rats live in burrows. They come out mainly at night when the air is coolsomething that stops them from losing water by sweating.
Sandgrouse Kangaroo rat
Q Who is a fish out of water? A Most fish die if they are left out
of the water. Mudskippers are different. These pop-eyed fish live in mangrove swamps, and they can stay out of the water as long as they like, provided that they keep their skins moist. Mudskippers use their front fins like legs. They breathe mainly through their skins, and they hide away in burrows when the tide comes in.
Protruding eyes give an all-around view
Q Who carries water through the air? A Young sandgrouse cannot fly to
search for their daily drink of water. Instead, their fathers operate a special airlift. Every morning, flocks of male sandgrouse fly to distant waterholes, where they wade in up to their breasts. Once their feathers are thoroughly soaked, they fly back to their nests. Their thirsty chicks nibble at the wet feathers, and this gives them enough water to last until the next day.
Mudskipper
A thick layer of fat is hidden under the penguins skin Penguin uses its wings like flippers when it swims
Weddell seal
Q How do seals breathe when the sea freezes? A Even in the middle of winter,
there are seals that live and feed beneath the polar ice. A layer of body fat keeps them warm in the water, but they also need to breathe. To do this, they use their teeth to gouge holes in the ice. A seal starts its breathing holes early in winter, just as the ice starts to form. As the ice thickens, the seal works hard to keep the holes open. By the time winter ends, the holes can be nearly 7 ft (2 m) deep.
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Q Which animal has the warmest fur? A Sea otters have the thickest and
warmest fur in the world. Just one otter has nearly a billion hairs. These hairs are so densely packed that water cannot get between them to wet the otters skin. This keeps a sea otter warm, and it also helps it to float. Unlike river otters, sea otters spend most of their lives in the water floating on their backs while they sleep.
Sea otter Three-month-old polar bear cubs, ready to leave their home
Q Where do polar bears have their cubs? A Most bears give birth in a
den, deep in a forest. Female polar bears make a different kind of homethey burrow into a bank of snow. The female gives birth in early winter, and to begin with, her two cubs are tiny and cannot see. The cubs would soon die outside, but in their burrow they are safe. Snow is a good insulator, and their mothers body heat keeps them warm.
Ptarmigan
Q Which bird has its own snowshoes? A Ptarmigans live in the far north,
and spend most of their time on the ground. Instead of having bare feet, like most birds, they have a covering of feathers that work like snowshoes. The feathers help to spread a ptarmigans weight when it walks across freshly fallen snow, and they also keep its feet warm. Ptarmigans are brown in the summer, but they turn white in the fall, to blend in with their snowy surroundings. They feed mainly on seeds, berries, and leaves.
More Facts
n Some animalsincluding the wood frogcan survive being frozen almost solid. Ice crystals form under the frogs skin, and its heart stops. It comes to life again when the weather thaws. n The snow petrel feeds in the sea around Antarctica and breeds farther south than any other bird. It builds its nest among rocks.
Snow petrel with chick
Japanese macaques
47
Pygmy shrew
More Facts
Giant panda
n Hyenas have such powerful digestive systems that they can break down skin, bones, teeth, and even animal hooves. n Bloodsucking ticks can swell up more than 50 times when they have a meal. After feeding, female ticks fall off their host and lay their eggs.
Pandas can eat up to 90 lb (40 kg) of bamboo in a day
n After a large meal, it can take a snake several weeks to completely digest its prey. n A koala eats eucalyptus leaves, which provide all the water that it needs. n A cellar spider can go for a year between meals. These spiders are common inside homes.
Panda has special wrist bone that works like a thumb to grip bamboo
Cellar spider
n Some male deep-sea anglerfish never eat. Instead, they fasten themselves permanently to a female, and get food directly from her body.
Yes, the pygmy shrew has to eat around the clock. Its one of the worlds smallest mammals, and it needs lots of energy to stay warm, and to keep on the move. It eats more than its own weight of food every day, ferociously attacking earthworms, beetles, and grasshoppers with its needle-sharp teeth.
Sucker
Q How does a flamingo collect its food? A When a flamingo feeds, it holds
its beak upside down in the water. Instead of catching fish, it eats microscopic plants and animals which it sieves out of the water. Its tongue works like a pump, and it collects its food with special fringes on its tongue and its beak. Flamingos usually live in shallow lakes or coasts and are the only birds to collect food in this way.
Krill
Dormouse
1 2
Desert hedgehogs can sense when it is getting hot. They find somewhere cool where they can sleep during the hot months.
European hedgehogs hibernate for up to 6 months. During their long sleep, their body temperature drops to about 39 F (4 C).
Blue whale
Q Who eats the most food in a day? A The blue whale has the biggest
appetite. It feeds on shrimp-sized animals called krill. A whale can eat more than 4 tons a day, engulfing vast swarms in its massive mouth. But blue whales dont eat at this rate all year. During the breeding season, they migrate to warmer waters, and often eat nothing at all.
49
On the move
Which fish flies through the water? Why do wildebeest move in groups? Do insects migrate? How do lobsters find their way? 52 54 56 58
Peregrine falcon
Manta ray
52
Q How fast can birds fly? In level flight, ducks and geese are A the worlds fastest birds. But the
fastest bird of all is the peregrine falcon. It attacks other birds by diving at them in midair. During its attack, a peregrine folds back its wings to make its body more streamlined, allowing it to hurtle downward at up to 125 mph (200 km/h). The peregrine slashes its victim as it speeds past.
Flea
Q Who is the fastest animal on six legs? A Cockroaches dont win any prizes
for popularity, but they do win first place for speed. They are the fastest-running insects, and can cover 29.5 in (75 cm) in just one second. At full tilt, their back legs do all of the work, and their other legs lift clear of the ground. They use their speed to scuttle for cover if they sense danger coming their way.
Cockroach
More Facts
n Ghost crabs live on tropical beaches. They can scuttle toward their burrows at 9 mph (15 km/h), zigzagging as they go.
Ghost crab
Q What tiny animal takes giant jumps? A For their size, fleas are the best
jumpers in the animal world. They manage these giant jumps because their bodies contain special elastic pads. To jump, they squeeze these pads, and then suddenly release them, making their back legs give a tremendous kick. At the moment of launch, they accelerate faster than a space rocket.
Q Who is the top animal athlete? A The cheetah is the fastest land
animal, but can overheat if it runs for more than 40 seconds. The second fastest is the pronghorna North American antelope. Pronghorns have unusually big hearts, and special blood that delivers lots of oxygen to their muscles to keep them working hard for longer.
n The worlds fastest fish is the sailfish. Over a short distance, it can reach a speed of 60 mph (100 km/h) as fast as a cheetah on land. n Squid can power along at up to 25 mph (40 km/h). They squirt water backward through a nozzle that works like a jet engine. n Eastern gray kangaroos can move at 40 mph (64 km/h), and jump fences taller than an adult man.
Pronghorns
2 1
At the beginning of a swing, the gibbon lets go of one hand.
At the end of the swing, the gibbon grabs the branch with its free hand.
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Wildebeest
More Facts
Q Do lemmings really jump off cliffs? A No, they dont. Every few
years lemming populations become enormous. When this happens, their food begins to run out, so they set off in search of more. Millions of lemmings swarm across the Arctic tundra and swim across streams, eating as they go. If they come to a cliff, they stopunless nudged over by the lemmings behind them.
Lemming
Flying ants
n Flying ants have wings for a few days in summer when they fly away to start new nests. They shed them on landing. n Every evening, more than 20 million bats pour out of Bracken Caves in Texas. This is the largest group of mammals anywhere in the world. n Killer whales and dolphins move in family groups called pods. The pod members recognize each other by their calls.
Locust swarm Leathery front wings
Q When do locusts swarm? If locusts food supply starts to A run out, their behavior changes,
and they gather together in huge swarms. The swarm then heads off to find better feeding somewhere else. A single swarm can contain more than 10 billion insects. When the locusts settle, they can strip every piece of greenery in sight.
Locust
Red-billed queleas
Dark band around eyes allows them to look directly toward the Sun
Meerkats
Q Who travels in a gang? Every morning at sunrise, African A meerkats come out of their
burrows and set off to look for food. Meerkats live in gangs, called mobs, and stick together while on the move. From time to time, they fan out to look for insects and other small animals. If anyone gets left behind, the others notice and let it catch up. Meerkats have sharp eyes and ears, and even sharper teeth. They are known for their ability to stand on their back legs for a better view.
55
Do insects migrate?
Every year, millions of animals set off on regular journeys known as migrations. Generally, they travel between the places where they breed, and the places where they go to avoid cold winters, where food is easier to find. These journeys are often long and hazardous and not everyone that sets off arrives safely. Migrants include all kinds of animals, from reindeer and turtles to birds and whales. They include insects, tooparticularly moths and butterflies. The clouded yellow butterfly spends the winter in North Africa, where it goes to breed. In the spring, it can fly as far north as the Arctic Circle.
Long antennae
Dartford warbler
56
More Facts
n Swallows have amazing memories. Although they travel thousands of miles, they often fly back to exactly the same nest site that they used the year before.
Arctic tern
Reindeer Swallows
Q Who migrates the farthest each year? A Arctic terns make the longest
return journey of any animal. They breed in the Arctic, and then fly south to the Antarctic to avoid the northern winter. Because they follow coasts, instead of flying in a straight line, they can cover more than 30,000 miles (50,000 km) in a single year. Albatrosses can fly for an amazing 6,000 miles (10,000 km) without ever setting foot on land.
n Ruby-throated hummingbirds weigh less than a sugar lump, but can fly from North America via the Gulf of Mexico to winter in Central America. n In Antarctic winters, limpets migrate to deep water to avoid being crushed by ice.
Humpback whale
Spiny lobsters
Q How do eels navigate across the sea? A European eels start life in a region
of the Atlantic Ocean called the Sargasso Sea. When they are small, they set off on a voyage to Europes coast. Their journey can take three years, and scientists are still not sure how they find their way. Some think they navigate by tasting the water, because the taste changes from one part of the ocean to another.
Young eels Long snakelike body
58
More Facts
n After baby turtles hatch, they scuttle straight toward the sea. They find their way by aiming toward the brightest part of the horizon. n Honeybees can tell each other where to find food, and how far away it is. They do this by performing special dances deep inside their hives. n Emperor penguins return each year to the rookery where they were born. This journey involves a walk of 30125 miles (50200 km) across sea ice. On arrival at the rookery the female lays one egg. n Ants lay a trail of scent everywhere they go. The ants then use this to find their way back to the nest. n Common frogs breed in the same pond year after year. They are good at remembering their surroundings, which helps them to find their way.
Migrating geese
Q How do bats know where they are going? A Most bats have poor eyesight and
cannot see where they are heading. Instead, they find their way using high-pitched bursts of sound. They listen for echoes that bounce back from solid objects and use these to find their way. This helps bats find food, as well as the tiny cracks and crevices that they use as their daytime hideaways.
Q How do pigeons know their way home? A Pigeons are excellent at flying
home, even if they are released far away. For centuries, people have wondered how they do it. Pigeons seem to use several types of clues as signposts. These clues include the position of the Sun, and also variations in the earths magnetic field. Because pigeons are fast fliers, they can get back home much faster than someone doing the same trip in a car.
Pigeon loft
Common frog
59
Index
n
aardvark, 29 African elephant, 14 albatross, 16, 57 algae, 35 alligator snapping turtle, 26 American bullfrog, 15 animal actors, 3637 anolis lizard, 39 antennae (feelers), 17, 19 antlers, 25 ants, 37, 43, 44, 55, 59 archer fish, 27 Arctic fox, 35 Arctic tern, 57 attracting a mate, 15, 3839
centipedes, 27 cheetahs, 26, 53 Chilean four-eyed frog, 36 claws, 27, 38 clearwing moth, 37 clouded yellow butterfly, 56 cockroaches, 53 cold conditions, 4647 color, 3237 cone shells, 27 copying, 37 cracker butterfly, 39 crickets, 15 cuttlefish, 35
bamboo, 48 basilisk lizard, 28 bats, 1415, 55, 59 beaks, 16, 17, 18, 25 bees, 22, 54, 59 bird-dropping spider, 33 bird-eating spider, 19 birds: attacking, 25 camouflage, 32 migration, 57, 59 sense of smell, 16, 17 sunshades, 43 birds of prey, 11, 27 black mamba, 52 blind cave fish, 13 bloodhound, 17 blue whale, 49 blushing, 38 bolas spider, 27 bowerbirds, 39 boxing, 24 breathing holes, 46 breeding season, 24, 25, 38, 39 brown bear, 22 bush cricket, 15 bushbaby, 13 butterflies, 33
Dartford warbler, 56 dead leaves, 33 deaf (snakes), 15 deer, 25 desert: survival in, 43, 44, 45 devils coach horse beetle, 37 digging, 29 disguise, 33 dolphins, 15 dormouse, 49
fighting fish, 25 finding the way, 5859 fireflies, 39 fish, 11, 13, 27 fastest, 53 surviving out of water, 45 flamingos, 49 fleas, 53 flies, 18, 26 flight, 53 flocks, biggest, 55 flying ants, 55 flying fish, 29 food, 4849 forceps fish, 34 four-eyed fish, 11 frigate bird, 39 frilled lizard, 36 frogs, 11, 15, 43, 59 fur, warmest, 47
horns, 24 horsefly, 11 housefly, 18 hummingbirds, 18 humpback whales, 34, 57 hunters, see predators hyenas, 48
Indian leaf butterfly, 33 ink, 29 inland taipan, 23 insects: disguise, 33 ears, 15 eyes, 11 killers, 22 migration, 56
eagles, 11, 27 ears, 1415 earthworms, 12 eating, 4849 echolocation, 14, 15, 59 eels: electric, 27 European, 58 elephant seals, 24 elephants, 14 Emperor penguin, 46 emus, 43 estivation, 49 eyes, 1011, 12, 36 eyesight: best in the dark, 1213 sharpest, 11
Gaboon viper, 32 gangs (mobs), 55 garter snake, 47 gazelles, 11 geckos, 33 ghost crab, 53 giant anteater, 18 giant panda, 58 giant squid, 11, 23 gibbons, 5253 Gila monster, 23 giraffes, 15, 25 glow worms, 39 grasshoppers, 15 gray kangaroo, 24, 53 gray whales, 57 great bustard, 39 great egret, 25 grizzlies, 22
kangaroo rat, 45 kangaroos, 24, 53 kicking out, 25 kill, making a, 2627 kites, 11 kiwis, 17 koalas, 48 Komodo dragon, 17 krill, 49
camels, 43, 44 camouflage, 3235 caribou, 57 caterpillars, 19, 33, 36 cats, 12 cellar spider, 48
faces, 34, 39 feelers, see antennae feet, tasting with, 18 fennec fox, 14 fiddler crab, 38 fighting, 24, 25
hairstreak butterfly, 37 hares, 28 head butting, 25 hearing, 1415 heat, avoiding, 4243 hedgehogs, 49 herds, 11, 54 hibernation, 49 hippos, 23, 42 home, finding the way, 59 honeybees, 22, 54, 59 honeypot ants, 44 hook-nosed sea snake, 23
lambs, 16 leaf beetles, 35 leaf-tailed gecko, 33 leafy seadragon, 33 lemmings, 55 light sensors, 12 lizards, 13, 17, 23, 28, 33, 43 lobsters, 19 locust swarms, 55 mammals: ears, 1415 grazing, 11 most dangerous, 23 noses, 16 mandrill, 34
L, M
60
manta ray, 52 mantis, 26 marking territory, 16 meerkats, 55 Mexican milksnake, 15 migration, 5659 Monarch butterfly, 58 monitor lizards, 17, 23 moths, 13, 17, 19, 37 movement, 5255 at night, 13 fastest, 53 mudskipper, 45 musk oxen, 24
naked mole rat, 19 nectar, 18 nests, 19, 42 night flights, 59 nighttime vision, 12, 13 nostrils, 16, 17, 43
playing dead, 37 plovers, 37 pods, 55 poison, 23, 27, 35, 36 poison dart frogs, 35 polar bears, 47 Port Jackson shark, 17 praying mantis, 26 predators, 32 fastest land, 26 largest in world, 23 largest land, 22 making a kill, 2627 pretending to be hurt, 37 pronghorn, 53 ptarmigan, 47 pygmy shrew, 49
rattlesnakes, 13, 24 red-billed queleas, 55 red kite, 11 red-tailed rat snake, 17 reindeer, 57 rhinos, 15, 16 rolling up in a ball, 29 running, 53: across water, 28 fastest, 28, 29
sea wasp, 23 seals, 24, 46 seeing in the dark, 13 sharks, 17 sheep, 16 shovel-snouted lizard, 43 sidewinder snake, 43 sieving for food, 49 skunks, 28 sloths, 35 smell, sense of, 1617 smells, 28 snails, 10 snakes, 13, 15, 17, 48 imitators, 36 venom, 23, 32 snow petrel, 47 snowshoes, 47 sockeye salmon, 38 sperm whales, 23 spiders, 10, 19, 27, 33, 37 spiny lobster, 58 squid, 11, 53 star-nosed mole, 13 stings, 22, 27, 37 stink, 28 stripes, 32 sugary drink, 18, 19, 44 suntan lotion, 42 swarms, 54, 55
termites, 42 tigers, 32 toads, 11, 15 tongues, 17, 18 tortoise, desert, 43 touch, 19 travel, patterns of, 58 traveling, see migration treehoppers, 33 tsetse fly, 23 turtles, 26, 57, 59
walrus, 19 warning sign, 35 wasps, 37 water, and survival, 4445 water bear, 44 water-holding frog, 43 Weddell seal, 46 whales, 57 whiskers, 19 wildebeest, 54 wood frog, 47
pandas, 48 patterns, 32, 34, 35 penguins, 46, 59 peregrine falcon, 53 pigeons, 59 pill millipede, 29 pit viper, 13
sailfish, 53 sandgrouse, 45 scallops, 11 scent, 17, 59 scorpions, 24, 27 sea anemones, 19 sea otter, 47
talons, 27 tapeworms, 49 tarantula, desert, 43 taste, 1819 tawny eagle, 26 tawny frogmouth, 32
zebras, 25
CredIts
The publisher would like to thank the following for their kind permission to reproduce their photographs: Key: a=above; b=below/bottom; c=center; l=left; r=right; t=top. Alamy Images: Arco Images 52t; Troy Bartlett 37br; blickwinkel 28br; Bruce Coleman Inc 29ca, 53cb; Reinhard Dirscherl 11cr; Martin Harvey 53cr; Israel Images 49b; Eric Nathan 11br; Peter Arnold Inc. 23cl; Steve Bloom Images 50-51; Barry Turner 43br; Visual & Written SL 43r; Woodfall Wild Images 46l; Worldwide Picture Library 39bl; Ardea: Thomas Dressler 25tr, 42l, 55bc; Steve Hopkins 55tl; Andrey Zvoznikov 12bc; Bryan and Cherry Alexander Photography: 46r; Corbis: Tom Brakefield 18bl, 25cb; Tim Davis 28t; DLILLC 34l; Peter Johnson 29br; Steve Kaufman
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Ausloos 49tr; Anthony Bannister 37tl; Bill Coster 59t; Stephen Dalton 28bl, 57tc, 58t; Robert Erwin 45bl; Bill Love 52bc; Alan Williams 56bl; Michael Reinhardt 47br; Science Photo Library: Dr John Brackenbury 13tl; Dr. Jeremy Burgess 22t; Eye of Science 23br, 49ca; Gary Meszaros 13c; Andrew Syred 12cra; SeaPics. com: Jonathan Bird 23bl; Mark Conlin 38b; David B. Fleetham 52c; Saul Gonor 19cl; Steven Kazlowski 22b; Michael S. Nolan 57cl; Doc White 49crb; Still Pictures: Fritz Polking 40-41; SuperStock: 20-21, 24b, 27b, 55tr Endpapers: DK Images: Thomas Marent Jacket images: Front: Corbis: DLILLC; Back: DK Images: Mike Linley clb; Thomas Marent bl; naturepl.com: Christophe Courteau cla; Steve Bloom Images: tl. All other images Dorling Kindersley For further information see: www.dkimages.com Dorling Kindersley would also like to thank Hazel Beynon for proofreading and Lynn Bresler for the index.
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