Exploding Ants: Amazing Facts About How Animals Adapt

Exploding Ants: Amazing Facts About How Animals Adapt

A wasp lays its eggs under acaterpillar's skin so that its young caneat the caterpillar's guts as they grow.A young head louse makes its homeon a human hair and feasts onhuman blood.Frogs use their eyeballs to helpswallow their food.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.From School Library JournalGrade 4-8-The subtitle for this book modestly describes what Settel delivers with panache. Among the creatures described are swallowtail butterflies (with slimy larvae), predatory fireflies, murderous cuckoos, parasitoid wasps, regurgitating birds, and a few bloodsuckers (ticks, lice, bats, and lampreys). Chapter headings such as "Dog Mucus and Other Tasty Treats," and lovely lurid prose describing the brainwashing behavior of fluke parasites will definitely hook the book's intended prey. Vivid comparisons make the astounding facts comprehensible to young readers: "Some ticks take in so much blood, they swell to nearly four times their normal size. That's like an adult human expanding to the height of a two-story building!" The format differs from that in Theresa Greenaway's Really Fearsome Blood-loving Vampire Bats (1996) and the rest of "The Really Horrible Guides" (all DK) due to its emphasis on text over illustration, but the small, full-color photos are clear. A useful glossary defines the italicized scientific terms sprinkled throughout the text. This offering is another strike against the undeserved reputation of science books as dry, dusty tomes of little interest to children.Marilyn Payne Phillips, University City Public Library, MOCopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.From BooklistNot just another gross-out book of animal oddities, this attractive volume presents its material as wondrous science instead of sensational effect. The chapter heads are a bit over the top--" Murderous Nest Mates," "Gulping Eyeballs," and so forth; but, of course, kids will love them. They'll also like the variety of unusual creatures Settel introduces in straightforward terms--whether it's the nefarious cuckoo that insinuates its young into another bird's nest or an African frog that drops its eyeballs into its mouth. Most scientific terms are explained quite clearly in the text, and a glossary is appended. Color photos, sometimes a bit too small, show each animal. The selected readings are mostly adult titles. Some children's titles would have been a good addition, as this is one of those books kids won't want to end. Stephanie ZvirinFrom Kirkus ReviewsFans of all things gross, revolting, and disgusting will find plenty to applaud in this round-up of animal behaviors and habits for survival in the natural world. Eating, egg-laying, sheltering, tricking, and defending are all common comportment in the wide universe of animals, birds, insects, and parasites. A swallowtail butterfly larva mimics the shape of a bird dropping, a braconid wasp feasts on caterpillar guts, a honey ant regurgitates nectar for its colony, a tongue worm sets up house in the mucus of a dog's nose. Exploding soldier ants, ticks bursting with blood, vomiting vampire ba