Fascinating Nature
Extraordinary Nooks
One animal home was spotted from space, one is glued together with spit, and one was even built with gold! Let's peek inside more of nature's unusual homes.
Did you know?
Edible-nest swiftlets build their small nests almost entirely from their own saliva (spit)! The male lays down sticky strands that harden like glue. Building one nest takes about 35 days.
The longest beaver dam known is in Wood Buffalo National Park, Canada. It is about 775 metres long, longer than seven football fields! Scientists spotted it in satellite photos taken from space.
Young caddisflies live underwater and build tiny homes they carry around. They spin silk and stick on sand grains, small stones or bits of leaf. A French artist once gave them gold flakes and gems, and they built sparkling cases!
Try this: Nest-Building Challenge
Collect fallen twigs, dry grass, leaves and a little damp mud from the garden. Using only these and your hands, try to build a cup-shaped nest that can hold a small ball of paper. Test it by gently tipping it sideways. Does the ball stay in? Now imagine building it with only a beak! Wash your hands well afterwards.
Go further: The Great Shell Swap
Hermit crabs live in empty snail shells, and they need bigger ones as they grow. When a new, larger shell turns up, something amazing can happen. Crabs gather and line up by size, from biggest to smallest. Once the right-sized crab moves into the new shell, the others quickly swap too: each crab moves into the shell left behind by the one just bigger than it. In the end, everybody gets a bigger home!