Exploding Ants: Amazing Facts About How Animals Adapt
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About this ebook
From small worms that live in a dog's nose mucus to exploding ants to regurgitating mother gulls, this book tells of the unusual ways animals find food, shelter, and safety in the natural world.
If animals all ate the same things and lived in the same places, it would be impossible for all of them to survive. So they specialize. Some animals eat the bits that others leave behind, such as skin and mucus. They find all kinds of unusual places to shelter, including the cracks and holes in another creature's skin or its internal organs. They use their own bodies to protect themselves from predators by imitating unsavory items such as bird droppings and even by blowing up.
These habits that may seem disgusting to us are wonderful adaptations that make it possible for a great variety of creatures to live and thrive on Earth. Read about them and marvel at the amazing ways animals adapt to the natural world.
Joanne Settel
Dr. Joanne Settel is an award-winning writer of science books for children, including Your Amazing Skin from Outside In and Your Amazing Digestion from Mouth Through Intestine. Dr. Settel’s book Exploding Ants: Amazing Facts About How Animals Adapt was listed as one of the Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K–12 by the Children’s Book Council. Dr. Settel has a PhD in biology. She is a professor emeritus at Baltimore City Community College, where she taught courses in biology, anatomy, and physiology. She lives with her husband in Maryland, where she enjoys hiking, playing bridge, and gardening. Visit her online at JoanneSettel.com.
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Your Amazing Digestion from Mouth through Intestine Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYour Amazing Skin from Outside In Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
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Reviews for Exploding Ants
11 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It's been a great and gross book,
it's very funny! - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5From deep sea angel fish to a worm that lives in the nostrils of dogs, this book covers a lot. My stomach churned at a couple of the photos, but it was hard to take my eyes off of them. Interesting book.
Book preview
Exploding Ants - Joanne Settel
contents
Introduction:
Why Animals Do Gross Things
fooled ya
A Disgusting Disguise
Fatal Flashes
Murderous Nest Mates
invasion of the body snatchers
The Brainwashers
Caterpillar Guts for Breakfast
swelling, expanding, and exploding bodies
Living Honey Jars
Exploding Ants
Ballooning Birds
dog mucus and other tasty treats
A Very Slimy Supper
Parasite Pickers
A Mouthful from Mom
sucking blood
Bursting with Blood
Sticking Around
A Little Blood Between Neighbors
An Underwater Bloodsucker
getting it down
A Ball of Bones
Big, Big Gulps
Gulping Eyeballs
the mating game
A Smelly Proposal
A Permanent Connection
selected readings
About Joanne Settel
glossary
index
To Katherine, Daniel, Ethan, Willie, and Chris, lovers of nature and future writers.—J. S.
introduction
why animals do gross things
Animals often do things that seem gross to us. They eat foods that people would find nauseating. They make their homes in disgusting places and feed on mucus and blood. They swell or blow up their body parts.
But while these behaviors are nasty to us, they are critical to life on earth. They make it possible for many kinds of living things to find food, shelter, and safety. Different species make use of every possible space and gobble down every nutritious crumb of food in the natural world. If every species of animal ate the same kind of food, or lived in the same place, there simply wouldn’t be enough to go around. It would become impossible for all of the species to survive. So instead, animals specialize. One predator eats flesh, while another feeds on blood.
As a result, when it comes to eating, nothing is wasted. Almost every part of every living animal, from skin to dung to mucus, can provide food for some other species. All of these things contain good nutrients. An animal that has the right digestive organs and chemicals can easily break them down.
Similarly, when it comes to finding shelter, animals make use of any hole or space or building material that they can find. For example, the smelly, slimy holes and organs inside the body of a bigger animal can often provide a warm, protective home for small animals like insects.
Finally, animals often put their body parts to good use. Animals don’t