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A queen stretches out in her spacious home as her subjects scurry around her. The queen’s workers try to make her comfortable and keep her dwelling clean. This “royal” is well cared for, but you couldn’t exactly call her lifestyle luxurious. That’s because she’s a termite! LARGE AND IN CHARGE Over 2,000 species of termites can be found around the world. Termite colonies, which can include thousands of individuals, often live in large dirt mounds. When a female termite hits breeding age, she may emerge from her colony and find a mate. The pair then creates a burrow in the ground and the female (called a queen) begins to produce eggs—a lot of them. In fact this female generates around 30,000 eggs a day! Once her offspring hatch, they become part of her colony. As the female produces more and more eggs, she begins to grow. Over time she can become the length of an adult human’s index finger. That’s a hundred times bigger than any of the termites that surround her. Eventually the queen gets so large that she can barely move. Luckily members of the queen’s community are there to wait on her, um, antenna and foot. TERMITE TOWERS Many of the offspring that hatch from the queen’s eggs become worker termites. They help the queen by keeping her clean, feeding her plant fibers, and looking after newly laid eggs. These insects may also double as construction workers, carrying up soil from underground to create the colony’s mound. Some termite mounds can reach over 17 feet in height. Sounds like the termite queen and her workers really know how to go big! Watch an amazing video about termites. Text by Andrea Silen, NGS Staff
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This 4-inch-long (10-centimeter-long) fish shares an amazing partnership with another sea creature: the anemone (pronounced: uh-NEM-uh-NEE). The partnership benefits both participants, and the close relationship led to the fish being named an anemonefish. Anemones have tentacles that sting, but the clownfish isn’t bothered by them. In fact, it lives among the tentacles. Living among the tentacles of the anemone, the clown anemonefish gains protection from predators—which don’t dare get near the stinging protector. The anemonefish also gets to eat leftovers from the anemone’s meals. The anemone benefits from having the fish around, too. The useful fish nibbles away parasites that bug the anemone. And sometimes the anemonefish brings food into the tentacles which the anemone can also eat. Generally several anemonefish make one host anemone their home.
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Snowy plovers are small shorebirds that dash in and out of waves at the beach. While it looks like they are playing, these chunky little white birds are actually chasing after a meal of small insects and crustaceans. These small birds have rounded heads with steep foreheads and short necks. Their bills are black and they have large eyes. They have short black legs and dark gray to black feet. As plovers mature, their feathers change. Typically, their feathers are snowy white, hence their name, with black, brown, and gray markings on wings and head. They have patches of brown or black on their shoulders. Snowy plovers feast on beetles, flies, marine worms, crabs, clams, sand hoppers, seeds, and aquatic insects. While they search for food plovers will run, stop, look, and then peck and poke at plants and the sand. Plovers will run into swarms of flies with their bills open and snapping, trying to grab a bite. They nest on the sand on sparsely vegetated coastal beaches and lakeshores and also nest near man-made wastewater ponds and reservoirs. They often line their sand nests with seashells. Many sandy beaches are raked to make them attractive to humans and beach grasses are planted to control beach erosion. As a result, plovers‘ breeding numbers have decreased as their beach habitats and breeding areas are used for fun and recreation. Both parents will take care of the large eggs, but females often take over day duty and the males take over at night. Newly hatched snowy plover chicks look like fluffy white cotton balls.
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An American goldfinch soars through the warm spring air, it’s yellow feathers reflecting the sun. Suddenly the bird opens its mouth and chirps a call that sounds like “po-ta-to-chip.” This flier isn’t looking for a salty snack. It’s using this vocalization to communicate with its flock. The bird flies on, continuing its delicious call.
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Sand tiger sharks are also known as sand tigers and gray nurse sharks. Like all sharks, they breathe underwater, through their gills. But sand tigers have one unique habit. They are the only sharks that come to the surface to gulp air, but not to breathe. The air ends up in its stomach. The air makes the shark more buoyant, so it can float motionless in the water as it watches for prey. Sand tigers generally hunt at night; just above the ocean floor. Sand tiger sharks like the shallow water close to shore and so have „sand“ in their name. The „tiger“ was inspired by their big appetite. Sand tiger sharks look ferocious, with a row of jagged teeth that you can see even when their mouths are closed! However, these fish are not very aggressive toward people and bother people only when people bother them first. Many aquariums keep sand tiger sharks in their shark exhibits because they’re so impressive looking and survive well in captivity. On the top of its body, a sand tiger is brownish-gray and often sprinkled with darker spots. Its belly is whitish. Some kinds of sharks lay eggs; others, like the sand tiger, give birth to live young called pups. A newborn can swim and eat right away. When young their main danger is bigger sharks, but once they grow to their full size, they no longer have major predators to worry about.
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Bison are the iconic image of the Great Plains and the Old West. They are massive, shaggy beasts and the heaviest land animals in North America. Despite their hefty size, bison are quick on their feet. When the need arises they can run at speeds up to 40 miles (65 kilometers) an hour. Their curved, sharp horns can grow to be 2 feet (61 centimeters) long. Females (cows) and adult males (bulls) generally live in small, separate bands and come together in very large herds during the summer breeding season. Males wage battles for mating rights, but such contests rarely turn dangerous. Females give birth to one calf after a nine-month pregnancy. Bison once covered the Great Plains and much of North America, and were critically important to Plains Indian societies. During the 19th century, settlers killed some 50 million bison for food, sport, and to deprive Native Americans of their most important natural asset. The once enormous herds were reduced to only a few hundred animals. Today, bison numbers have rebounded somewhat, and about 200,000 bison live on preserves and ranches where they are raised for their meat.
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Northern Mockingbird
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Tarantulas give people the creeps because they have large, hairy bodies and legs. While these large spiders can take a painful bite out of a human, a tarantula’s venom has a low toxicity to people. Tarantulas move slowly on their eight hairy legs, but they are accomplished nocturnal predators. Insects are their main prey, but they also target bigger game, including frogs, toads, and mice. Tarantulas are burrowers and typically live in the ground. There are hundreds of tarantula species found in most of the world’s tropical, subtropical, and desert regions. They vary in color and behavior according to their specific environments. A tarantula doesn’t use a web to trap its prey, though it may spin a trip wire to signal an alert when something approaches its burrow. These spiders grab with their legs, inject paralyzing venom, and then bite their prey with their fangs. They also secrete digestive enzymes to liquefy their victims‘ bodies so that they can suck them up through their strawlike mouth openings. Yum! Tarantulas have few natural enemies, except for the parasitic pepsis wasp, which can paralyze a tarantula with its sting and lay its eggs on the spider’s body. When the wasp eggs hatch, the larvae chow down on the still living tarantula. Tarantulas shed their external skeletons in a process called molting. During the process, they also replace internal organs, such as stomach lining, and can even regrow lost legs.
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Tigers are unlike any other feline. Discover what makes them stand out from the rest of the cat crowd.
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