gkforall05
  • Home

JUST A FUN

JUST A FUN

Friday, 3 July 2015

Best Animal Architects!

 Unknown     08:03     No comments   

Most animals find a home for themselves by taking shelter in caves, trees, underground, or hollows. Some opt for parasitic arrangements. But, we also know of certain animals like the birds, ants, bees etc. that make for themselves private places like nests, hives or colonies to rest, mate and nurture offspring. There are also some animals that build themselves elaborate living places, and are, in fact, some of the best architects. So let are look at some of the best animal architects and their constructions.

10. Social weaver

10 Best Animal Architects
This bird is found in South Africa, as well as Namibia and Botswana. They build permanent communal nests on tall trees or other erect objects like telephone poles with sticks and grass. The nests are the largest built by any bird, and are capable of housing several generations each of as many as a hundred pairs of birds. There are many separate rooms. The central chambers can retain heat and are for night-time roosting, while the outer ones are for daytime shade, as the temperature maintained can be about 7-8°C, when it is about 16-33°C outside. These sky-condominiums look like haystacks, with spiky straws for security system at the entrances which are at the bottom.

9. Weaver ant/ Leaf-Curling Spider

10 Best Animal Architects
Generally, ants are known to build colonies inside anthills, and one of the most remarkable anthills is made by the European red wood ants who build interlinked mounds to switch between. But, the weaver ant of Central Africa and South-East Asia has gained ecological success by building capacious nests from living leaves which are held together by their larval silk. They put together concerted efforts as they build large colonies. The nests are impermeable to water. Something similar is done by the leaf-curling spider of Australia, except it uses a dead leaf, and curls it to form a cosy shelter hung in the centre of the web. They in in pairs at an early age here, and later use it as a nursery.

8. Vogelkop Bowerbird

10 Best Animal Architects
The bowerbird lives in Vogelkop Peninsula of Indonesia. Using grass and sticks, the male bowerbirds build bowers on the ground, which look like small pygmy huts. These bowers are their way to attract female mates. Building the bowers is not all: they also design the interiors by artistically arranging berries, flowers, beetles and other eye-catching ornamental objects, as each bird makes the best effort to outdo his neighbour. The female birds visit the nests, and if they like what they see, they mate with the host. The female birds probably do so to just check the capability and sense of responsibility of the male, since these bowers play no par in nesting and raising of the young.

7. Cathedral termite

10 Best Animal Architects
The termites that live in our houses are the lazy little pests, but, out in the wilderness of Australia’s Northwest Territory live the self-sufficient Cathedral termites. Using mud, chewed wood, their own saliva and feces, they build self-sustaining mounds towering up to 30 feet, which are centrally air-conditioned, enhanced by the north-to-south construction and tunnels that run throughout the mound for temperature and air regulation. Water also collects as condensation. Beneath the sprawling megacity of skyscrapers, the underground colony spreads over acres, and is complete with fungi gardens where plant matter is cultivated. There are even small motel-rooms, for mating.

6. Trapdoor Spider

Best Animal Architects
Spiders are known for making their webs, and some of them definitely go an extra mile, like the leaf-curling spider, or the isolated cases in the humid areas of Texas or Canada where spider communities build webs together over many hectares of land. But the trapdoor spiders are different. They live underground, in burrows that they dig out. Using soil, vegetation and silk, they construct doors for their houses. These doors can open and close at hinges which they make out of spider silk. Thus, the door is completely hidden when sealed, making it the perfect trapdoor. They make a complex system tripwires with their webbing, to attack and trap unsuspecting victims.

5. Baya weaver/ Montezuma Oropendola

10 Best Animal Architects
The baya weaverbird is found in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It is well-known for its elegant retort-shaped hanging nest, built from leaves in colonies. But isolated nests are not unusual. Far away in the Caribbean coastal lowlands, the Montezuma Oropendola, a New World tropical icterid bird, builds a similar kind of nest out of grass and small vines, hanging from trees in colonies of about 30 birds. They build their nest in high trees in the forest canopy, edges or plantations, unlike the baya weaverbirds whose nests are built on thorny trees, near or over water.

4. Paper wasp

10 Best Animal Architects
While most wasps do not build nests or opt for parasitic arrangements, the paper wasps build elegant nests. The different species use materials like fibers of chewed plants, dead wood or stems, to build their nests with. The materials are bound together with resin and their own saliva or silk. Some species also use mud. The nests have open combs with cells, like in the beehives. The internal honeycomb tiers have a paper wrapping that surrounds them. The nests also have a petiole or constricted stalk, to anchor the nest. The wasps spread a chemical that they secrete around the base of the anchor to repel ants and prevent loss of eggs. The nests are usually built in sheltered areas.

3. Red Ovenbird/ Swallows

10 Best Animal Architects
The Rufous hornero or red ovenbird uses mud or dung as the main material to build earthen bowls, constructed on top of high tree limbs, poles, posts, etc., where these get baked by the sun, creating a hardened shelter where the birds lay eggs. The nests face away from prevailing winds. Thus, these are perfect for the incubation of eggs, and are a home for the nestlings and their parents in all kinds of weather. Many species of swallows, too, build mud nests. Swallow nests can also be made out of the birds’ saliva. These nests, built in colonies, are considered delicacy by some people. The evolution of nest construction is thought to be associated with the clutch size of a swallow species.
2. Mud Dauber
10 Best Animal Architects
Mud daubers build themselves elegant nests out of mud, and sometimes, their own vomit. The organ pipe mud dauber’s nest is in the shape of a cylindrical tube, like an organ pipe or pan flute, and these are built on the horizontal or vertical faces of bridges, walls, cliffs, shelter cliffs, or other such structures, while the black and yellow mud dauber nest may be simple, one-celled and urn-shaped, which are then clumped together and plastered with mud. The mud dauber’s den contains many cells, not just to house the eggs but also to serve as asylums to keep the prisoners, i.e. spiders, in a paralyzed state so that they cannot escape, and can be devoured by the wasps and their larvae.

1. Caddisfly

10 Best Animal Architects
The Caddisfly is an underwater architect of its own kind. In the larva state, the immature caddisflies toil hard in streams, ponds and other fresh-water bodies they inhabit, and cover themselves in bits of sand, plants or anything they find, to build an array of cases and retreats. It secretes a sticky silk from its modified salivary glands, which it uses to spin together pebbles, sands, and other detritus. The larva grows in the ornate, unique make-shift home, in a protected environment that offers camouflage and stability in currents, and also ensures efficiency in feeding and respiration. Some build net-like chambers in front of the retreat, spread silken mazes, etc. to catch food.
There a few other animals that deserve to be mentioned for their architectural skills. Beavers, for instance, are excellent woodworkers and weather-proofers, and build massive dams to create still ponds and flood woodland areas to a desired depth, and the dams are complete with submerged entrances to the internal winter lodges, kept warm and safe with coats of mud. The ants, too, are some of the best animal architects, capable of building elaborate ant colonies underground, without a blueprint or any light, and display amazing skill in gauging depth from the surface. Gophers and prairie dogs build burrows that are actually called towns, since they spread across hundreds of acres, housing thousands of rodents. Honeybees have their entire lives revolving around their beehives made of wax, where there are perfectly hexagonal cells that together form the combs to store honey and breed the young. The trapdoor spider, which lives underground, manages to build a door for its house which opens and closes at the hinge made of spider silk, and they also have a complex system of tripwires to pounce upon unsuspecting preys. There are many such masterminds at work all the time in the nature, and though we humans might have mastered the art of architecture with science, it is safe to say that the animals learnt to hang out in safe and cosy housing estates and farmed their own resources in the colonies, thus making great contribution to the environment and ecology in the process, when the humans were still in the first stages of figuring it all out for themselves.
  • Share This:  
  •  Facebook
  •  Twitter
  •  Google+
  •  Stumble
  •  Digg
Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to Facebook
Newer Post Older Post Home

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Recent Posts

Infolinks In Text Ads

GAMES

GAMES
games

Popular Posts

  • People who faked their own Death!
    Life is precious. Nobody wants to die unless your death give you a new, better life. Following are the stories of 10 people who faked thei...
  • World's best sand boarding Destinations!
    Mankind has an age old relationship with stress and Sports are known to be the greatest stress busters. Unlike cricket, soccer, tennis whi...
  • World's 10 Best Destination for Wedding!
    With so much to explore and celebrate, the concept of destination wedding has wonderfully hit the world. Many couples are opting for exoti...
  • The Most Dangerous Fishes in the World!
    Fishes are amongst the most beautiful creations of nature and are most probably counted as one of the many species that are found freely i...
  • Dangerous Dog Breeds most likely to turn on their Owners!
    Despite of being the most wonderful and loyal pets, dogs can be dangerous sometimes. Under some conditions, every dog can attack anyone in...
  • Extraordinary Geysers in the World!
    Geysers are springs that are characterized by the sporadic release of water. These explosions are generally accompanied by steam. Geysers ...
  • Most beautiful Women of 2015!
    List of world’s 10 most beautiful women of 2015: This list is composed of – The strongest, intelligent, desirable, popular, attractive, be...
  • Unusual Sports!
    You have too much watched, played and heard about Football, Tennis, Basketball, Baseball,Rugby and Cricket. These mainstream sports attrac...
  • Legendry Greek Mythological creatures!
    Belong to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cul...
  • Top 10 Legendary Fashion Designers
    Jess C. Scott said, “The human body is the best work of art.” All fashion artists are aware of this. In the last century, both men and wom...

Blog Archive

  • ►  2017 (1)
    • ►  December (1)
  • ►  2016 (1)
    • ►  February (1)
  • ▼  2015 (173)
    • ►  December (1)
    • ►  September (2)
    • ▼  July (165)
      • Most Favourite Amusement
      • World's Powerful Kids!
      • Desirable Woman in Sports!
      • Extremely Dangerous Sports!
      • Real life Disney Princess!
      • Stylish Female athletes of All time!
      • Most Popular Cricketers Perpetually!
      • Unusual Sports!
      • Highest Grossing Bollywood films!
      • Highest Grossing Hollywood Movies!
      • Extraordinary Geysers in the World!
      • Greatest Sport Events!
      • Exotic cloud Forest around the World!
      • Famous Political Slogans!
      • Famous Animal Astronauts!
      • Most terrifying Insects of the World!
      • Most beautiful Women of 2015!
      • Awesome Ballet Dance Photos!
      • Shortest Athletes the World has witnessed!
      • Batsmen with most sixes in ODI!
      • Bizarre University Courses!
      • Dumbest Statements by Celebs!
      • Richest Tennis Players!
      • World's best sand boarding Destinations!
      • Greatest French Open Champions!
      • Most Powerful Couples in the World!
      • Best Cars in the World!
      • Most Inspirational CEO's of the Tech World!
      • Dancing Divas of Bollywood!
      • Natural Hot Springs in the World!
      • Birds with Strange Defence!
      • Most Dangerous Snake species!
      • Strange Hideous Creatures!
      • Most endangered Forests!
      • Worst countries for Women to survive!
      • Smallest Cities of the World!
      • Countries with most Slaves per capita!
      • Most Corrupt Police Force around the World!
      • Lesser known facts about Animal's Intelligence!
      • Hottest Actress of Bollywood!
      • Weird Prehistoric creatures that can spook you!
      • Most Expensive Pets of Unusual Choices!
      • Underwater Creature with bizarre Appearance!
      • Famous historical Birds!
      • The transparent animals!
      • The most amazing Monkeys
      • Spectacular Glowing Animals!
      • The Most Dangerous Fishes in the World!
      • Most Cruel Rulers ever in the History!
      • Dangerous Dog Breeds most likely to turn on their ...
      • Famous War Horses in the History!
      • Best Special Forces around the World!
      • Most terrifying Civilization in the History of the...
      • Bizarre sports that actually exist!
      • Things that people hardly know about India!
      • Strangest competitions around the world!
      • Famous people who said good bye to their public life!
      • Bizarre tales of Chewing gum!
      • People who survived their execution!
      • Strange people with bizzare history!
      • Legendry Greek Mythological creatures!
      • People who lived with the dead!
      • Infamous blunders of the world!
      • People who faked their own Death!
      • Individuals with Incredible feats to brag about!
      • Beautiful Festivals that are a visual treat!
      • Computer damaging Viruses!
      • Amazing Man made islands!
      • Amazing health benefits of Making Love!
      • Most romantic places Worldwide!
      • Shocking Rituals in India!
      • Bizarre services from Japan!
      • Amazing Giant sculptures in the world!
      • Most controversial Books of all time!
      • Powerful Opening lines of Novels!
      • Expressions coined by Shakespeare!
      • Popular first words used by Shakespeare!
      • Stunning photos of Beautiful Places!
      • Facts on Kiss that everybody should know!
      • Life threatening Journey made by kids to go to Sch...
      • Iconic places to photograph!
      • Benefits of Laughter!
      • Deadliest aviation accidents of all time!
      • Natural Wonders of the world!
      • The perfectly timed Photos!
      • Most widely Read Children Stories!
      • Best and Amazing Aviation Museums!
      • Powerful closing lines of Novels
      • Craziest Japnese video Games ever!
      • Books suggested by Bill Gates for Best Read!
      • Strange phobias!
      • Myths about the Animal kingdom!
      • Most Influential Leaders of Europe!
      • Most beautiful Flowers of the World!
      • World's most populated Cities!
      • Most popular Twitter celebs of India!
      • Shocking Oscar Loser's Reaction!
      • Little Known And Fascinating Facts about Jackie Chan!
      • The Most Expensive Photographs ever!
      • Spectacular Stunt Injuries of Jackie Chan!
    • ►  June (4)
    • ►  May (1)
© 2015 gkforall05. Powered by Blogger.

About Me

Unknown
View my complete profile

Most Trending

  • Unusual Sports!
    You have too much watched, played and heard about Football, Tennis, Basketball, Baseball,Rugby and Cricket. These mainstream sports attrac...
  • World's best sand boarding Destinations!
    Mankind has an age old relationship with stress and Sports are known to be the greatest stress busters. Unlike cricket, soccer, tennis whi...
  • Greatest French Open Champions!
    There’s a lot to like about the French Open. The two-week tournament is also known as Roland Garros – a name it inherited from the importa...
  • Best and Amazing Aviation Museums!
    Since the Wright Brothers flew the first aircraft in the world, the aviation sector has witnessed momentous changes over the years. The Av...
  • Myths about the Animal kingdom!
    Human mind has always been curious and imaginative, and whenever they have not been able to explain any of the nature’s mysterious ways, t...
  • People who lived with the dead!
    The city of Kolkata in India has been taken by a storm recently. The reason? The news that a 44 year old man named Partha De has spent six...
  • Most Popular Persons in Wikipedia!
    Today we came with a list of most popular persons on Wikipedia during last year. Wikipedia was launched on January 15, 2001, by Jimmy Wale...
  • Shocking Rituals in India!
    India is a land of the oldest, most magical cultures, religions and customs. People of different religions live in the vast country. It is...
  • Dangerous Dog Breeds most likely to turn on their Owners!
    Despite of being the most wonderful and loyal pets, dogs can be dangerous sometimes. Under some conditions, every dog can attack anyone in...
  • Amazing Giant sculptures in the world!
    Sculptures or Statue usually created as a symbol. Around the world, monuments are built to pay tribute to an extraordinary life or to comm...

PARTNERS

  • justafun
  • knowmore27
  • girslgo4games

Copyright © gkforall05 | Powered by Blogger
Design by Hardeep Asrani | Blogger Theme by NewBloggerThemes.com | Distributed By Gooyaabi Templates