Extraordinary Animals: An Encyclopedia of Curious and Unusual

321 Pages·2008·12.1 MB·English

Extraordinary Animals:
An Encyclopedia of
Curious and Unusual
Animals
Ross Piper
Greenwood Press
EXTRAORDINARY ANIMALS

EXTRAORDINARY ANIMALS
An Encyclopedia of
Curious and Unusual Animals
Ross Piper
Illustrations by Mike Shanahan
GREENWOOD PRESS
Westport, Connecticut • London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Piper, Ross.
Extraordinary animals : an encyclopedia of curious and unusual
animals / by Ross Piper ; Illustrations by Mike Shanahan.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978–0–313–33922–6 (alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0–313–33922–8 (alk. paper)
1. Animals—Encyclopedias. I. Title.
QL7.P57 2007
590—dc22 2007018270
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 2007 by Ross Piper
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without
the express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2007018270
ISBN-13: 978–0–313–33922–6
ISBN-10: 0–313–33922–8
First published in 2007
Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
www.greenwood.com
Printed in the United States of America
Th e paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
In memory of my Dad

CONTENTS
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction xv
1 Strength in Numbers: Animal Collectives 1
Acacia Ant 1
Antarctic Krill 4
Aphids 6
Giant Japanese Hornet 9
Leaf-Cutter Ants 11
Naked Mole Rat 13
New Zealand Bat-Fly 16
Portuguese Man-of-War 18
Sponges 20
Stony Corals 23
Tar-Baby Termite 25
Trap Ant 27
2 Th e World Is a Dangerous Place: Defensive Tactics 31
Armored Shrew 31
Balloon Fish 33
Bombardier Beetles 35
Bushy-Tailed Wood Rat 38
Electric Eel 40
Glaucus 42
Goliath Tarantula 44
Honey Badger 47
Hooded Pitohui 49
Mimic Octopus 51
viii CONTENTS
Sea Cucumbers 53
Slow Loris 55
Springtails 58
3 Th e Quest for Food 61
Ant Lions 61
Aye-Aye 63
Bolas Spiders 66
Bulldog Bat 68
Candirú 70
Common Chameleon 72
Cone Shells 74
Cookie-Cutter Shark 76
Egg-Eating Snake 78
Fat Innkeeper 80
Gharial 83
Giant Anteater 85
Harpy Eagle 87
Kiwis 89
Luminous Gnat 92
Mantis Shrimps 94
Megamouth Shark 96
Portia Spider 98
Purse-Web Spider 100
Shrews 103
Spitting Spider 105
Triclads 107
Velvet Worms 109
4 Getting from A to B: Solutions to the Problem of Movement 113
Bee Hummingbird 113
Common Swift 115
Emperor Penguin 117
European Eel 119
Flying Dragons 122
Four-Wing Flying Fish 124
Grant’s Golden Mole 126
Leatherback Turtle 128
Northern Bluefi n Tuna 130
Sea Lamprey 132
Sloths 135
Stenus Rove Beetles 137
Stowaway False Scorpion 139
Tokay Gecko 141
White Worm Lizard 144
5 Looking Out for the Next Generation 147
Bee Wolf 147
Blue Whale 149
Burying Beetles 152
Fig Wasps 154
King Cobra 156
CONTENTS ix
Malleefowl 158
Marble Gall Wasp 161
Platypus 163
Red-and-Blue Poison-Arrow Frog 165
Sand Tiger Shark 168
Ship Timber Beetle 170
6 Living at the Expense of Others: Parasitism 173
Alcon Blue Butterfl y 173
Ant-Decapitating Flies 175
Bird Fluke 178
Cod Worm 180
Cricket Fly 182
Giant Roundworm 184
Gordian Worms 187
Guinea Worm 189
Human Botfl y 192
Leaf Wasps 194
Rabbit Flea 196
Red-Tailed Wasp 199
Sabre Wasp 201
Sacculina 204
Strepsipterans 206
Warble Flies 208
7 Th e Continuation of the Species: Sex and Reproduction 211
Blue-Headed Wrasse 211
Cockroach Wasp 213
Deep-Sea Angler Fish 215
Green Spoon Worm 218
Narwhal 220
Palolo Worms 222
Pocketbook Mussels 224
Spotted Hyena 226
Surinam Toad 228
Taita Hills Caecilian 231
Tarantula Hawks 233
Transvestite Rove Beetle 235
8 Pushing the Boundaries: Surviving Extremes 239
Antarctic Toothfi sh 239
Beard Worms 241
Coconut Crab 244
Coelacanth 247
Giant Mudskipper 249
Giant Squid 252
Hagfi sh 254
Human 256
Lake Titicaca Frog 259
Lungfi sh 261
Marine Iguana 263
Olm 266