Animal Defenses

Insects that look like leaves, snakes that play dead, fish that fly, and toads with poisonous skin--these creatures are among many that defend themselves in fascinating ways. Animal Defenses presents the wide variety of physical and behavioral adaptations used by animals and insects in their struggle to survive and shows how scientists continue to make new discoveries about the age-old maneuvering between predator and prey.

Animals have clever ways to keep safe from their enemies. Some can run very fast to get away. Others swim or fly fast to keep safe. Some have sharp claws or horns or teeth.

Audisee® eBooks with Audio combine professional narration and sentence highlighting to engage reluctant readers! The octopus spies a nice, tasty mantis shrimp. It swims over for a closer look at the small creature. Then—WHAM!—the mantis shrimp strikes a nasty blow with its hammer-like forelimb. The octopus shrinks back, defeated. That wasn't such an easy meal after all . . . In nature, good defenses can mean the difference between surviving a predator's attack and becoming its lunch. Some animals rely on sharp teeth and claws or camouflage. But that's only the beginning. Meet creatures with some of the strangest defenses known to science. How strange? Hagfish that can instantaneously produce oodles of gooey, slippery slime; frogs that poke their own toe bones through their skin to create claws; young birds that shoot streams of stinking poop; and more.

This work takes a fresh, modern approach to investigate and explain the predator and prey relationships of insects and spiders, the major terrestrial fauna on earth. Devoted to broad and in-depth analysis of arthropod defenses against predators, the book's approach is both experimentally and theoretically based with major emphasis on evolution, predator strategies and tactics, and prey defensive adaptations and behaviors. The authors explain such topics as cryptic and aposematic coloration, the conflict between sexual and survival needs, web spider prey choice and evolution of prey counter defenses, predator-prey interactions and the origins of intelligence, bird predatory tactics, and caterpillar defense strategies. Also examined is the use of timing for fitness and survival, evolutionary gamesmanship in the predatory bat-moth relationship, colony defense by aper wasps, startle as a defense by moths, aggregation as a defense, chemicals as defenses, plant chemicals as defenses, and venoms as defenses. The authors illustrate each topic with numerous specific well-documented examples presented in a clear, readable style.

Kaner and Stephens explain the unique ways in which animals protect themselves. Easy-to-do experiments and activities reveal the tricks animals use to survive.

"Animals have their own way of protecting themselves when they are in danger. Some use camouflage, while others try to scare the enemy. Some run away and some pretend to be dead. Other animals hide behind tough shells. Learn about the many ways animals stay safe." -- Page [4] of cover.

Learn how animals such as armadillos and crabs protect themselves from predators.

Insects that look like leaves; snakes that play dead; fish that fly; and toads with poisonous skin--these creatures are among many that defend themselves in fascinating ways. Animal Defenses presents the wide variety of physical and behavioral adaptations used by animals and insects in their struggle to survive and shows how scientists continue to make new discoveries about the age-old maneuvering between predator and prey.