Animals change over time to cope with their environment, to survive, to thrive.
Meet dozens of fascinating animals in these adaptation categories: curious communications, all-purpose poop, escaping the enemy, super strange insides, and creepy connections.
Hide and stink! Young Komodo dragons survive by rolling in pig poop so they aren’t eaten by huge adult Komodos who smell the air with their tongues as they hunt.
Escape! Green iguanas and other lizards can let their tail snap off when grabbed by a predator, then grow a new tail later.
Move along! Hummingbird flower mites hitch a ride to new nectar sources by jumping onto a hummingbird’s long beak at one flower, hiding out in its nostril, then leaping off when they sense the correct type of flower to find a new mate and avoid enemies.
Elephantnose fish use electricity to navigate through night waters in Africa and communicate with each other, one of 400 species of electric fish who’ve adapted to cloudy or muddy freshwater.
However, elephants communicate and are alerted to danger by sensing ground vibrations through their toes! Only in recent decades have scientists registered these sounds with frequencies too low for humans to hear.
Cooking the Enemy, Whale Poop for Lunch, Ant Shampoo! The chapter titles alone make it worth your while to pick up this book from your local library (https://search.worldcat.org/libraries) or favorite independent bookstore (https://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finder).
This accurately and artistically illustrated 42 page book is better for browsing than for research since it has no bibliography or index. Words in color within the information-packed text point to its glossary at the end.
What’s your favorite unusual animal fact?
**kmm
Book info: Fish Farts and Other Amazing Ways Animals Adapt / Joanne Settel; illustrated by Natasha Donovan. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2024. [author site https://www.joannesettel.com/] [illustrator site https://www.natashadonovan.com/] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Fish-Farts/Joanne-Settel/9781665918831] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.