Animal Scientists
12 total works
The Animal Scientists books combine ecology with simple scientific principles so young readers can see how animals have adapted to cope with their environment and how they relate to other animals. The series explores animals' use of science and engineering to overcome environmental challenges: escaping predators, making a shelter, finding food and a mate.
Animals build an incredible array of structures in which to sleep, raise young, or catch prey. Some structures involve excavating in subsoil or wood, others involve construction underwater, and some are fixed to trees. Polar bears dig out caves in the snow to protect themselves from the coldest weather. Spiders spin webs of incredibly strong silk to ensnare prey. Prairie dogs dig underground ‘towns’ that can house hundreds of families.
Some animals, including frogs and dragonflies, change their body to live in different environments. Others, such as chameleons, change color to blend into the background to hide from predators. Still more change their shape dramatically to attract a mate—for example, the beautiful displays of birds of paradise.
Finding prey and detecting predators are life-or-death matters for animals. They use some technologically advanced systems including the senses we’re familiar with—and others that are far more sensitive. The book explains how bats use echolocation to hunt on the wing, tells how sharks can smell tiny amounts of blood from hundreds of yards away, and how supersensitive hairs on a spider’s body can pick up vibrations in the air.
Many types of animals use tools to find food, build a home, and defend themselves. Chimps use sticks to get grubs from small holes or honey from beehives. Sea otters crack open clams on rocks. Tailorbirds ‘stitch’ their nests with spider silk, while bowerbirds collect bright objects to decorate their nests.
Sound, sight, and chemicals are all important as animals attempt to communicate warnings, information about food, to attract a mate, or sometimes just for pleasure. Whales communicate across hundreds of miles of ocean with ultrasound ‘songs.’ Fireflies uses flashes of light to attract a mate. Skunks squirt foul-smelling chemicals to ward off attackers.