Interesting facts geoduck clam

Posted on 9th August 2011 by admin in Marine animals facts

Geoducks, pronounced “gooey-ducks,” are one of the largest burrowing clams known. The two halves of the bivalve shell cannot contain the large fleshy animal. Geoducks live buried deep in the gooey mud of large bays, relying on this burrow for protection. The only way to see them is to dig deeply into the mud when the tide is out.

While walking across a mud flat, you may see a startled geoduck send a tall spout of sea water squirting from its siphon as it retracts its neck and siphon into the mud.

When the tide is in and water covers the burrow, the geoduck clam draws water into one of its two siphons. The water circulates over the gills and is filtered for microscopic food. It is then expelled from the other siphon.

Large geoducks live about 15 years and can reach 12 pounds. They are good for eating but the effort to dig them out discourages many collectors. It is usually much easier to gather smaller clams that have shallower habitats.

Interesting facts about ant nests

Posted on 9th August 2011 by admin in Insect facts

Ant nests are everywhere: inside plants, hollow logs, dead trees. Ants that tunnel in wood can chew out sizable rooms for themselves. It can be a mighty problem for people when ants invade the timber of houses, causing the wood to collapse. Other house-loving ants can cause problems, too, by nesting in between walls. In the tropics, some ant species suspend earthen or silken nests from tree branches.

Ant nests come in all sizes. Some nests may have as few as a dozen ants nesting in one chamber underground, while other nests may have millions of ants inhabiting many tunnel-connected chambers. One tropical species built a nest that extended 40 feet (12 meters) below the ground. The nesting site of yet another species covered an area the size of a tennis court.

It’s fascinating to watch ants build nests. Ants know that the ideal time to construct a nest in the ground is after a rain. The damp soil is easier to work with. After removing pellets of soil from the nest site, the ants mold them into a brick-like form. These little bricks are used to construct the chamber walls and ceilings of the nest.

Do you know what the ants use the chambers for? Young ants live in some of the rooms. Some rooms are used for the storage of ant eggs. There are rooms for storing food. Tired ants have rooms for resting. There are even rooms for socializing!

When it’s cold, the ant colony moves down to the deepest rooms of the nest where it is warmer. Do you know why it is common to find ants under a stone? Probably because the stone protects the exit of their underground nest. Also, stones become hot under the afternoon sun and remain warm during the night. This warmth will radiate down into the nest and keep the young ants comfortable.

Some ant species conceal the entrance or exit of their nest in grass or leaves. It is not unusual for ants to close the nest with small pebbles. Some ants dump excavated soil or sand near the nest entrance, creating a small ant-hill. If the ant-hill washes away, the ants will dump some more in the same spot. Most ant-watchers are familiar with this mark of a nest entrance.

FAMILY: Formicidae

Interesting facts about foxes

Posted on 14th July 2011 by admin in Mammals facts

Diet

Although classified as carnivores, foxes eat fruit, vegetables, scavenged bones, meat, fat, wild birds, chickens, small mammals, rabbits, carrion, earthworms, insects, fruit and vegetables + occasionally domestic pets. Since the wolf became extinct the fox is Britain’s only surviving native member of the dog family (Canidae).

Nesting

A den; after mating the female makes a burrow for herself – sometimes adapting and enlarging one made by a rabbit. The young are fed by them for at least a month.

Predators and causes of death

Only man – with his guns, dogs and cars. At least 100,000 are run over on the roads each year

Habitat and distribution

They are becoming as common in cities as in the country often feeding from waste bins. Owing to the large increases in urban foxes, an organisation to both protect them and help people cope with them humanely when they are a nuisance has been set up.

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