Thomas Edison Essays (725 words) - Thomas Edison,

Thomas Edison Edison was born in the village of Milan, Ohio, on Feb. 11, 1847, and his family later moved to Port Huron, Mich. In his early life as a kid he played jokes on people and got into trouble. One time he set his father's barn on fire because he wanted to see what fire look like when it burned. His schooling was three months long because he quit when too many people made fun of him. At the age of seven his mother taught him, and he loved to read books. The book Schoool of Natural Philosophy sparked his likeing for science and, soon after he set up his first lab. At age 12 his father could no longer buy supplies for his lab so he became a train-boy, selling magazines and food on the Grand Trunk Railroad. He spent all he earned on books and supplies for his laboratory.At this time he stoped sleeping and only took cat-naps so he could work on experiments at night in the bagage car. An accident at this time led to a loss of hearing about 50%. Two things which contributed to loss of his hearing was a conductor pulling on his ear and, a conductor clapping his ears for setting the bagage car on fire it was only an accident. Soon after he left this job. A station agent taught him telegraph code and procedures, and at age 15, Edison became manager of a telegraph office. His first inventions were the transmitter and receiver for the automatic telegraph. At 21, Edison made improvements on the stock ticker for printing stock-exchange quotations. With the $40,000 he was paid for the improvements in tickers, he established real laboratory in Newark, N.J. Deciding to give up manufacturing, he moved the laboratory to Menlo Park, N.J., where he was in charge of groups of employees working on various projects. In 1878, Edison started work on an electric lamp and looked for things that could be electrically heated to incandescence in a vacuum. At first he used platinum wire in glass bulbs at 10 volts.He realized, however, that independent lamp control would be necessary for home and office use. He then developed a three-wire system with a supply of 220 volts. Each lamp operated at 110 volts, but the higher voltage required a new substance other than that of platinum. Edison conducted an extensive search for another filament material, on Oct. 21, 1879, he showed a lamp useing a carbonized cotton thread that glowed for 40 hours. Edison made the first large power station on Pearl Street in New York City in 1882; its steam-driven generators of 900 horsepower gave enough power for 7,200 lamps. The success of this station led to the construction of many other power stations. Edison founded The Edison Electric Light Company in 1878, which eventually merged with other companies into the General Electric Company in 1892, one of the largest U.S. manufacturers.It still is around today. During his experiments on the light bulb, Edison saw a flow of electricity from a hot filament across a vacuum to a metal wire. This is known as thermionic emission.Which he did the improvments on. Edison also invented the phonograph in 1877, the invention he was most proud of. It used tinfoil and wax cylinders to record the sound. His introduction of flexible celluloid film and his invention of the movie projector aided the development of motion pictures. His other inventions are the alkaline storage battery, a magnetic process to separate iron ore, and the carbon microphone. Later on in life he bacame close friends with henry Ford. He helped Ford on the battery and other things on the Ford Modle T.Edison injoyed his later years and got a home in Florida which he whent to alot. He died in West Orange, N.J., on Oct. 18, 1931, he had patented over 1,000 inventions. Edison was one of the best inventors of of his time and ours. He is most famous for his development of the first commercially practical incandescent lamp in1879. One of his greatest contributions, however, was the of the world's first central electric light-power station.Other great inventions were phonograph, motion picture camera,microphone, and the light bulb. Technology Essays

Canda At War

Canda At War Assessment of Inappropriate Behavioral Development It is far easier to measure a child's physical growth and maturation than to assess the complexities of individual differences in children's disruptive and antisocial development. Pediatricians can clearly record increases in a child's weight and height on growth charts and even provide percentile estimates indicating how a child compares to others at the same age. Measuring and interpreting acceptable versus unacceptable and normal versus abnormal behaviors among children and adolescents are far more complex.Children and adolescents often test the limits of appropriate conduct by crossing the boundaries set by caretakers. When a youth exhibits a particular problem behavior, it is important to consider not only if the behavior has previously occurred, but also if it is exhibited in multiple settings and with what frequency, duration, intensity, and provocation. For example, a 2-year-old who playfully nips a playmate is less off the m ark of developmentally appropriate behavior than a 4-year-old who aggressively and frequently bites playmates to forcefully gain possession of desired toys.My wife reading in bed. And it wasn't because she ...Among adolescents, a certain degree of misbehavior, experimentation, or independence seeking is common. In fact, the American Psychiatric Association (1994) indicates that "New onset of oppositional behaviors in adolescence may be due to the process of normal individuation." On the other hand, youth who persistently and progressively engage in problem behaviors with significant impairment in personal development, social functioning, academic achievement, and vocational preparation are of great concern to caretakers. Also of concern is the broad category of "antisocial behaviors" that have an appreciable harmful effect on others, in terms of inflicting physical or mental harm on others or causing property loss or damage.The Semantics of Disruptive and Delinquent Behavior A mothe r finds parenting exhausting and describes her 7-year-old son as extremely energetic, frequently switching from one play activity to...

American Indians Today Essay Example for Free

American Indians Today Essay The Native Americans were the primary citizens of America long before white men set on foot in the area. When the Europeans conquered the American soil, an estimated 10 million Indians composed the Population of America. It is situated at the north of the country, present-day Mexico. According to history scholars, the Native Americans were believed to settle in the country approximately 20,000 to 30,000 years ago. (nativeamericans) The Native Americans were able to get into the country through the land-bridge situated from the northeastern Siberia into Alaska. The primary Indian cultures in North America is classified into Sandia, discovered in 15000 BC, Clovis in 12000 BC and Folsom in 8000 BC. The identification of the Native Americans should not be misguidedly understood as the Indians of Asia since the term was coined by Christopher Columbus when he mistakenly believe the Native Americans as part of the islands of America as part of the Indies in Asia. (nativeamericans) When the Europeans arrived in the country, the Native Americans welcomed them graciously and considered it a marvel to see white men. Considering also the technologies the European brought, the Native Americans were impressed with their conquering guests. However, as the Europeans started to degrade the forests inhabited by the Native Americans, the Native Americans realized the real intention of the Europeans that has consequently disturbed the balance in their nature. Aside from the natural resources employed by the European conquerors, even the Native Americans were seen as a commodity for manpower and labor. (Berkhofers) The Native Americans began to attribute the Europeans into soulless creatures that were in their territory to destruct their natural environment. Not only did the Europeans abuse the environment, they also brought diseases that were infectious to the Native Americans. This eventually led to several uprising of the Native Indians. (Berkhofers)The Europeans were accustomed to conquests, so the Native Americans responded against the Indian Wars and the Indian Removal Act which enabled the Europeans to have ownership of the country. It was a great disadvantage for the Native Americans because of their number, lack of weapons and unwillingness to cooperate even at their own expense. In a final blow against the Native Americans, U. S cavalrymen massacred Indian warriors, women and children in 1890. (â€Å"Native America: Portrait of the People†; Thomas) For many years, many have believed that the Native Americans are extinct cultures. That is why many American Indians are advocating their right to be known as a culture which fought hard and survived whatever they have experienced in their own native land. Many American Indians are still trying to establish their own identity in a country that has become to be white men populated. American Indians Today. (2017, May 29).

Western Images of Asia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Western Images of Asia - Essay Example The reason for this shared animosity (That has passed from generation to generation), is that throughout history, each religion and people have felt that their God is in fact the only God and that the other faith is filled with Heretics or Infidels. In modern times another reason for western peoples apprehension towards Islam is that they do not understand its people or customs, they may see a women wearing a veil and automatically think she is a grenade-toting terrorist. In the last 25 years there has been a resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism and many western people automatically link these groups to the mainstream Muslim population and state, this is probably the main reason people believe that Islam is a threat to the west. This is far from the case that, "Political, rather than religious, considerations have been as much the driving force in Islamic states as elsewhere. The 1991 Gulf War patently demonstrated that religious considerations of the regions countries were supersede d by their political calculations. The behaviour of Iran, Turkey, Israel, and the Arab countries throughout the war was clearly based on a pragmatic style of politics." ( Monshipouri, 2003, pg25) After the terrorists attacks on The U.S. in September 2002 further made the western public feel that the religion of Islam was a threat to the west. These attacks, carried out by a small extreme group of fundamentalists has succeeded in raising the awareness of Islamic fundamentalism in the west and raising sense of threat from the extreme version of the faith. The attacks also displayed the differences between cultures and religions, as states, "Americans have tended to believe that their institutions and values-democracy, individual rights, the rule of law and prosperity based on economic freedom-represent universal aspirations that will ultimately be shared by people all

Financial Trends Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Financial Trends Paper - Essay Example The trend was a fall before the rise. The same could be observed in the behavior of net income of the company for the same three-year period, that there was a fall and an improvement after the fall. Net profit margin measures the company’s profitability performance (Bernstein, 1993) and is computed by dividing net income over the total revenues. In case of general motors a consistent 0.01 net profit margins were observed for the three year period. This indicates a rather lack of improvement in the company’s performance for the past three years despite the seeming increase in revenues from total sales for 2005 of US$192.6 billion to US $207.3 billion for 2006. This means the cost of the company was very high for the company which needs a deeper analysis as shown below: It would appear the company was still having some mark-ups from revenues, hence it may deduced that it is selling at above is production cost as evidenced by the positive gross profit rate from 2004 through 2006. The loss was felt only in 2005 when operating loss showed a rate of negative 0.01 value. This means that the company has higher operating expenses for 2005 compared with 2006 and 2004. Further analysis revealed that 2005 has high selling and administrative expenses in addition to the decline in revues from 2004 to 2005. Over all 2005 operation was a losing year by the company. When the three year ratios above are analyzed in relation to the trends established earlier in the behavior of the revenues and net income, it may be observed that there was big improvement in the return on equity (Meigs and Meigs, 1995) of the company from 2004 to 2006 although there was a deterioration in the return on assets from 0% in 2004 to -1% in 2006. This means that changes made were beneficial to the stockholder and that having too many assets are not necessarily better for the company if it will result to a better return to equity.

History of Las Vegas, Nevada Essay Example for Free

History of Las Vegas, Nevada Essay Las Vegas, translated from Spanish as â€Å"the meadows† was discovered and thus established in 1829 by the Mexican merchant Antonio Armijo, who led a trade caravan of 60 men creating a trade route to Los Angeles. Ironically, what historically was established as a mere transition point on a route, became one of the most remarkable places in the United States, â€Å"a pearl in a desert. † Practically, the rapid growth of Las Vegas as both a tourist destination and a community is directly related to the development of the image of Las Vegas. Even though Nevada was the last state to outlaw gambling in 1909 and the first state subsequently to legalize gambling in 1931, Las Vegas city fathers were more concerned with the divorce laws than reinstating gambling, and throughout most of the 1930s, gambling remained a sideline for Las Vegas. But the eighth wonder of the world, as Boulder Dam was then billed, began to funnel a torrent of tourists to the Las Vegas Valley (Boorstin, 1987:3). Las Vegas leaders envisioned their town as a Nevada Palm Springs. Alan Hess, in his book Viva Las Vegas, observes, They began to promote their characteristic western identity, the desert scenery, a social mix of laissez-faire government and neighborly hospitality embodied in speedy divorces and easy gambling† (Hess, 1993:19). In 1932, a year after the legalization of gambling, the then-luxurious, three-story Hotel Apache opened in downtown Las Vegas. With a motif of Native American design and an elevator to the supper club on top, the Apache was the most modern for its day. By 1936, the dam was completed and Las Vegas, with no more big payroll checks from dam workers, was beginning an economic slump. But, between 1938 and 1942 several changes occurred to avert the slump. In 1938, Los Angeles Mayor Fletcher Brown had begun enforcing the no gambling laws in California and many California gamblers moved to Las Vegas. Guy McAfee, a police captain and commander of the vice squad, was one of these California gamblers who moved into Las Vegas where he purchased the Pair-O-Dice Club in 1939. McAfee is credited with naming that part of the Los Angeles Highway which came into Las Vegas as The Strip in fond memory of the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. It would be several years before The Strip would gain its present day fame. Federal intervention also assisted the Las Vegas economy when President Roosevelts administration ordered air bases throughout the country. In 1940 Las Vegas received an air training station on the outskirts of town, and in 1941, Basic Magnesium, Inc. (BMI) was built, which created the city of Henderson. Las Vegas found itself with two new industries-recreation provided by the dam and lake, and defense, provided by the training station and BMI. The recreation (tourism) and defense industries would shape many western cities throughout the rest of the century. Fremont Street, Las Vegass main thoroughfare, boomed. As Don Knepp said in Las Vegas Entertainment Capital, There also emerged the image of Las Vegas as the glamorous hub for vacations in the Southwest† (Knepp, 1987:31). The city leaders had begun promoting Las Vegas as a tourist Mecca, and the WPA Guide to Nevada, the Silver State, 1940, seemed to approve of the methods when it said of Las Vegas, No cheap and easily parodied slogans have been adopted to publicize the city, no attempt has been made to introduce pseudo-romantic architectural themes, or to give artificial glamour and gaiety† (Hess, 1993:20). 941 saw further growth for the Strip and downtown. The El Rancho opened with a dude ranch theme and atmosphere. Built by Californian Thomas E. Hull, the El Rancho established a pattern of roadside landmarks, vistas and signs that broke with the tradition of downtown Las Vegas hotels and realized a vision that would mold the citys current form. The El Rancho duplicated the easy accessibility of the roadside motel, but with much more grandeur. While the downtown Hotel Apache was fancy, the El Rancho was lavish. Downtown, the El Cortez opened. Built by Californians Marion Hicks and John Grayson and although multistory, as most downtown hotels were, the El Cortez also kept to the western or Spanish theme. After stopping at the El Rancho, William J. Moore and R. E. Griffith, realizing the potential of thousands of gambling customers from the gunnery school, built the Last Frontier. Opening in October 1942, the Last Frontier also western in theme, was larger and more opulent than the El Rancho. McAfee, not satisfied with owning just the Pair-O-Dice Club, tried to upstage the El Rancho by building the Pioneer Club at Fremont and First Streets. Also consciously western in style, the Pioneer Club opened in 1942. Even though western in design, as late as 1947 Las Vegans were amazed that something so lavish as the El Rancho could succeed so far from downtown. The success of the El Rancho, the Pioneer Club and the Last Frontier was impressive enough that the city boosters considered making the western theme mandatory for Fremont Street. Although many downtown casino owners followed suit, the idea was never formally adopted. As Las Vegas became more savvy about the potential of a tourist economy, it began to exploit its western heritage more consciously. In keeping with the western motif, dude ranches replaced motels to provide divorce seekers a place to stay until their six weeks residency requirements were met The western influence provided a successful venue for divorce interests and gambling, two of the leading economic factors for Las Vegas. Close behind McAfee was Bugsy Siegel, who began by taking over the Las Vegas race betting wires, and, as a representative of Al Capone, muscled out the Continental Press Service and gained part ownership of several Fremont Street Clubs including the Pioneer Club. Although there was already an obscure element of gangsters in Las Vegas, Siegel was publicly known for his ties to organized crime. Siegel brought with him the negative aspect of the influence of organized crime, but he also brought the positive aspect of establishing a landmark luxury resort with the building of his Flamingo which broke with the western theme. The half-finished Flamingo officially opened with Jimmy Durante as entertainment in 1946; finances forced closure of the resort four weeks later, but the Flamingo reopened in 1948. Knepp credits Siegel with bringing extensive national exposure to Las Vegas; the notoriety attached to the Fabulous Flamingo branded Las Vegas as an underworld haven, a reputation that has persisted (Knepp, 1987:32). World War II created a shortage of construction materials which also created most of the financial difficulties Siegel experienced while building the Flamingo. But the federal government, including the war and defense spending, contributed greatly to Nevada, especially Las Vegas. Eugene P.  Moehring states in his book, Resort City in the Sunbelt, that Defense spending was an obvious by-product of the worldwide conflict. But, like the dam earlier, World War II strengthened the towns recreational economy† (Moehring, 1995:40). The war also brought some disadvantages such as curfews, which cut profits by closing casinos from 2 to 10 a. m. and meat rationing, which caused some restaurants to close. Clearly, the national emergency created many problems for Las Vegasâ⠂¬  (Moehring, 1995:40). Yet, much the same as Hoover Dam before it, World War II represented a bonanza for the small towns economy. The war helped confirm gambling as Las Vegass main postwar industry; By partially depriving the city of tourists for almost four years, the war magnified their [tourists] importance in the minds of promoters† (Moehring, 1995:40). The end of the World War II brought an end to the shortages of construction materials which had plagued Siegel and the 1950s brought the largest growth expansion in American history. This expansion occurred in the western United States, led by the state of Nevada. As 1950 opened, Nevada contained approximately 160,000 residents: by 1955, the population was about 245,000, a rise of more than 53 percent (Glass, 1981:39). By the end of the 1950s, Nevadas population had increased 75 percent, to 285,000 residents, making it the fastest-growing state in the country. During this expansion, Nevadas economy flourished thanks to mining, to the Freeport Law and to the test site in Las Vegas. But, it was gambling that brought about the unprecedented growth. By 1955, mining still outstripped gambling by just under $100,000, but as Jane Glass, in her book Nevadas Turbulent 50% asked, Who noticed? Well, of course the people who were working the mines noticed and the tax collectors who pulled in the highest amount on record but, almost nobody else† (Glass, 1981:92) which seems to imply that Nevada, especially Las Vegas, had forgotten the rich economy of mining, preferring instead to credit gambling as the biggest boon the states economy. The Freeport La w was the legacy of Edwin Bender, an administrator for a federal agency in charge of storing strategic war material, when he discovered a shortage of space in which to store the items. By the end of the 1940s, Bender found himself with a surplus of space and a shortage of goods. Later, when the county tax assessor evaluated some of the items for tax purposes, Bender felt the taxation to be unfair. He wrote a proposal for what became the Freeport bill and with the help of Nevada Attorney General Alan Bible, who drew up the bill. Owners of warehouses and light manufacturing firms found Nevadas tax climate substantially to their liking and, the Freeport Law became a significant economic advantage. After twenty-five years, three-quarters of a billion dollars worth of goods were being shipped yearly by truck and rail from the warehouses in the state (Glass, 1981:44). Although initially slow to move, the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce became deeply involved in designing and planning for tourists as early as 1944. The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and its boosters, fearing for the postwar economy sponsored a fund raiser to raise $75,000 as a budget for promoting the city as a tourist destination. During the war, the two largest industries had been the Army Air Base and Basic Magnesium, Inc. Surveys and research led the Chamber to the conclusion that tourism was now the best means to a good economy and the Chamber set out to attract visitors. Before long however, Las Vegas found it had to deal with the underworld image that had grown up thanks to Bugsy Siegel and others. The Chamber of Commerce tried several different public relations firms and advertising firms to draw attention away from the negative publicity of gangsters as well as the wild city image previously promoted. When these firms failed to promote the city in what Las Vegans and the Chamber felt was a positive way, the Chamber hired the West Marquis Agency to handle promotion. The West Marquis Agency was subsequently replaced when the Chamber felt it too had failed. It appears the Chamber need not have worried. Surveys now have shown that during the time of heavy gangster influence, tourists came to Las Vegas in the hopes of actually seeing a gangster. Knepp supports this view, For most visitors in the 1940s, however, the reputed underworld ties seemed only to highlight the citys wide open appeal. † (Knepp, 1987:32). Nevertheless, by the 1950s, promoting Las Vegas and creating the acceptable image had become a concerted effort of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, the city and the casinos who hired their own communication specialists. Contemporary Las Vegas is a place famous for extremely high concentration of world largest and what is more important, famous, casinos, among which are Stratosphere Hotel and Tower, the Las Vegas Hilton, the Rio Suites, the Gold Coast, the Maxim, the San Reno, the Continental, the new Paris and the smaller Hard Rock, Luxor, and the Circus Circus. Las Vegas Valley and its dominant industry generate a great many statistics, some misleading, others conflicting. In 1995-96, gamblers left behind $3. billion at the machines, tables, and sports books of the Strip compared to $683 million Downtown, a fact that gives some idea of the relative importance of the two in the industry that created and still runs Las Vegas (Littlejohn and Gran, 1999:2-3). Las Vegas has more hotel rooms than any other city in the world (more than a hundred thousand in 1998, with twenty thousand more either planned or under construction), and the highest average hotel-occupancy rate (87 to go percent) of any American city. In 1995, the Zagat Guide estimated that it offered the lowest average daily hotel room rate of the thirty-three leading U. S. visitor destinations. Moreover, Las Vegas currently contains nine of the worlds ten largest hotels. Las Vegas claims to be the number-one tourist destination in the U. S. , with more than 30 million visitors a year. Nevada had in 1996 both the highest marriage rate (ten times the national average, due primarily to out-of-state couples who come to Las Vegas and Reno to marry) and the highest divorce rate (more than double the national average). According to the FBIs Uniform Crime Reports for 1995, Las Vegas had the highest total crime rate and the highest rate of crimes against property among all American cities with more than 250,000 people (Littlejohn and Gran, 1999:5). Police reports for that year placed Las Vegas fourth among U. S. metropolitan areas of over a million population after Miami, Phoenix, and Oklahoma City in the rate of all serious crimes; 14. 7 percent of these were called â€Å"violent. †

Characterization in Hamlet :: essays research papers

â€Å"In some respects we can know fictional characters even better than we know people.† The author of Literature, Structure, Sound, and Sense makes an important point about fictional characters. An author can â€Å"make† or â€Å"break† a story by how they portray the characters as well as how relatable they are. An author can also make a story interesting by using different types of characters, as well as following the three principles of a good character. Shakespeare uses these concepts in Hamlet to brilliantly display his characters and allow readers to relate to each of them. The protagonist in this play is Hamlet. Hamlet is a character presented indirectly, because readers are not told explicitly who Hamlet is. Throughout the story readers learn new things about him. Hamlet even tells other characters in the story that there is more to him than they know. Even at the end of the story readers may not feel like they completely understand Hamlet. Hamlet is also a round character. Hamlet is a very complex individual, who is philosophical as well as contemplative. Readers see many sides of Hamlet, from his â€Å"love† with Ophelia in the beginning and then his carefree approach to her later, as well as his passionate fight for revenge over his father’s death. Hamlet also develops during the entire play. Readers at first see Hamlet’s disbelief when confronted by the ghost but through some investigating, mainly the play used to prove Claudius’ guilt, Hamlet finally comes to realize that his uncle really did kill his father. Hamlet also follows the three principles of a good character: consistent, motivated, and plausible. Hamlet is consistent throughout the whole story. Even when readers see him change and develop, it is because of a significant event in the story. An example of this is the change in actions towards Ophelia. Hamlet starts out treating Ophelia lovingly, but because of her rudeness to him he starts to back off. He is also motivated, as he attempts to find his father’s killer and seek revenge. Hamlet is also a plausible character. He is not completely removed from human nature, as readers see him struggle with emotions and revenge. He also is not the â€Å"perfect† human as he is subject to rage and impulses. This character is essential to this story because he is the protagonist. Without Hamlet there is no story.

Foundation’s Edge CHAPTER NINE HYPERSPACE

HYPERSPACE Trevize said, â€Å"Are you ready, Janov?† Pelorat looked up from the book he was viewing and said, â€Å"You mean, for the jump, old fellow?† â€Å"For the hyperspatial jump. Yes.† Pelorat swallowed. â€Å"Now, you're sure that it will be in no way uncomfortable. I know it is a silly thing to fear, but the thought of having myself reduced to incorporeal tachyons, which no one has ever seen or detected†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Come, Janov, it's a perfected thing. Upon my honor! The jump has been in use for twenty-two thousand years, as you explained, and I've never beard of a single fatality in hyperspace. We might come out of hyperspace in an uncomfortable place, but then the accident would happen in space – not while we are composed of tachyons.† â€Å"Small consolation, it seems to me.† â€Å"We won't come out in error, either. To tell you the truth, I was thinking of carrying it through without telling you, so that you would never know it had happened. On the whole, though, I felt it would be better if you experienced it consciously, saw that it was no problem of any kind, and could forget it totally henceforward.† â€Å"Well † said Pelorat dubiously. â€Å"I suppose you're right, but ‘honestly I'm in no hurry.† â€Å"I assure you†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"No no, old fellow, I accept your assurances unequivocally. It's just that – Did you ever read Sanertestil Matt?† â€Å"Of course. I'm not illiterate.† â€Å"Certainly. Certainly. I should not have asked. Do you remember it?† â€Å"Neither am I an amnesiac.† â€Å"I seem to have a talent for offending. All I mean is that I keep thinking of the scenes where Santerestil and his friend, Ban, have gotten away from Planet 17 and are lost in space. I think of those perfectly hypnotic scenes among the stars, lazily moving along in deep silence, in changelessness, in†¦ Never believed it, you know. I loved it and I was moved by it, but I never really believed it. But now – after I got used to just the notion of being in space, I'm experiencing it and – it's silly, I know – but I don't want to give it up. It's as though I'm Santerestil†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"And I'm Ban,† said Trevize with just an edge of impatience. â€Å"In a way. The small scattering of dim stars out there are motionless, except our sun, of course, which must be shrinking but which we don't see. The Galaxy retains its dim majesty, unchanging. Space is silent and I have no distractions†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Except me.† â€Å"Except you. – But then, Golan, dear chap, talking to you about Earth and trying to teach you a bit of prehistory has its pleasures, too. I don't want that to come to an end, either.† â€Å"It won't. Not immediately, at any rate. You don't suppose we'll take the jump and come through on the surface of a planet, do you? We'll still be in space and the jump will have taken no measurable time at ail. It may well be a week before we make surface of any kind, so do relax.† â€Å"By surface, you surely don't mean Gaia. We may be nowhere near Gaia when we come out of the jump.† â€Å"I know that, Janov, but we'll be in the right sector, if your information is correct. If it isn't – well†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Pelorat shook his head glumly. â€Å"How will being in the right sector help if we don't know Gaia's co-ordinates?† Trevize said, â€Å"Janov, suppose you were on Terminus, heading for the town of Argyropol, and you didn't know where that town was except that it was somewhere on the isthmus. Once you were on the isthmus, what would you do?† Pelorat waited cautiously, as though feeling there must be a terribly sophisticated answer expected of him. Finally giving up, he said, â€Å"I suppose I'd ask somebody.† â€Å"Exactly! What else is there to do? – Now, are you ready?† â€Å"You mean, now?† Pelorat scrambled to his feet, his pleasantly unemotional face coming as near as it might to a look of concern. â€Å"What am I supposed to do? Sit? Stand? What?† â€Å"Time and Space, Pelorat, you don't do anything. Just come with me to my room so I can use the computer, then sit or stand or turn cartwheels – whatever will make you most comfortable. My suggestion is that you sit before the viewscreen and watch it. It's sure to be interesting. Come!† They stepped along the short corridor to Trevize's room and he seated himself at the computer. â€Å"Would you like to do this, Janov?† he asked suddenly. â€Å"I'll give you the figures and all you do is think them. The computer will do the rest.† Pelorat said, â€Å"No thank you. The computer doesn't work well with me, somehow. I know you say I just need practice, but I don't believe that. There's something about your mind, Golan†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Don't be foolish.† â€Å"No no. That computer just seems to fit you. You and it seem to be a single organism when you're hooked up. When I'm hooked up, there are two objects involved – Janov Pelorat and a computer. It's just not the same.† â€Å"Ridiculous,† said Trevize, but he was vaguely pleased at the thought and stroked the hand-rests of the computer with loving fingertips. â€Å"So I'd rather watch,† said Pelorat. â€Å"I mean, I'd rather it didn't happen at all, but as long as it will, I'd rather watch.† He fixed . his eyes anxiously on the viewscreen and on the foggy Galaxy with the thin powdering of dim stars in the foreground. â€Å"Let me know when it's about to happen.† Slowly he backed against the wall and braced himself. Trevize smiled. He placed his hands on the rests and felt the mental union. It came more easily day by day, and more intimately, too, and however he might scoff at what Pelorat said – he actually felt it. It seemed to him he scarcely needed to think of the co-ordinates in any conscious way. It almost seemed the computer knew what he wanted, without the conscious process of â€Å"telling.† It lifted the information out of his brain for itself. But Trevize â€Å"told† it and then asked for a two-minute interval before the jump. â€Å"All right, Janov. We have two minutes: 120 – 115 – 110 Just watch the viewscreen.† Pelorat did, with a slight tightness about the corners of his mouth and with a holding of his breath. Trevize said softly, â€Å"15 – 10 – 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 – 0† With no perceptible motion, no perceptible sensation, the view on the screen changed. There was a distinct thickening of the starfield and the Galaxy vanished. Pelorat started and said, â€Å"Was that it?† â€Å"Was what it? You flinched. But that was your fault. You felt nothing. Admit it.† â€Å"I admit it.† â€Å"Then that's it. Way back when hyperspatial travel was relatively new – according to the books, anyway – there would be a queer internal sensation and some people felt dizziness or nausea. It was perhaps psychogenic, perhaps not. In any case, with more and more experience with hyperspatiality and with better equipment, that decreased. With a computer like the one on board this vessel, any effect is well below the threshold of sensation. At least, I find it so.† â€Å"And I do, too, I must admit. Where are we, Golan?† â€Å"Just a step forward. In the Kalganian region. There's a long way to go yet and before we make another move, we'll have to check the accuracy of the jump.† â€Å"What bothers me is – where's the Galaxy?† â€Å"All around us, Janov. We're weal inside it, now. If we focus the viewscreen properly, we can see the more distant parts of it as a luminous band across the sky.† â€Å"The Milky Way!† Pelorat cried out joyfully. â€Å"Almost every world describes it in their sky, but it's something we don't see on Terminus. Show it to me, old fellow!† The viewscreen tilted, giving the effect of a swimming of the starfield across it, and then there was a thick, pearly luminosity nearly filling the field. The screen followed it around, as it thinned, then swelled again. Trevize said, â€Å"It's thicker in the direction of the center of the Galaxy. Not as thick or as bright as it might be, however, because of the dark clouds in the spiral arms. You see something like this from most inhabited worlds.† â€Å"And from Earth, too.† â€Å"That's no distinction. That would not be an identifying characteristic.† â€Å"Of course not. But you know. – You haven't studied the history of science, have you?† â€Å"Not really, though I've picked up some of it, naturally. Still, if you have questions to ask, don't expect me to be an expert.† â€Å"It's just that making this jump has put me in mind of something that has always puzzled me. It's possible to work out a description of the Universe in which hyperspatial travel is impossible and in which the speed of light traveling through a vacuum is the absolute maximum where speed is concerned.† â€Å"Certainly.† â€Å"Under those conditions, the geometry of the Universe is such that it is impossible to make the trip we have just undertaken in less time than a ray of light would make it. And if we did it at the speed of light, our experience of duration would not match that of the Universe generally. If this spot is, say, forty parsecs from Terminus, then if we had gotten here at the speed of light, we would have felt no time lapse – but on Terminus and in the entire Galaxy, about a hundred and thirty years would have passed. Now we have made a trip, not at the speed of light but at thousands of times the speed of light actually, and there has been no time advance anywhere. At least, I hope not.† Trevize said, â€Å"Don't expect me to give you the mathematics of the Olanjen Hyperspatial Theory to you. All I can say is that if you had traveled at the speed of light within normal space, time would indeed have advanced at the rate of 3.26 years per parsec, as you described. The so-called relativistic Universe, which humanity has understood as far back as we can probe inter prehistory – though that's your department, I think – remains, and its laws have not been repealed. In our hyperspatial jumps, however, we do something out side the conditions under which relativity operates and the rules are different. Hyperspatially the Galaxy is a tiny object – ideally a nondimensional dot – and there are no relativistic effects at all. â€Å"In fact, in the mathematical formulations of cosmology, there are two symbols for the Galaxy: Gr for the â€Å"relativistic Galaxy,† where the speed of light is a maximum, and Gh for the â€Å"hyperspatial Galaxy,† where speed does not really have a meaning. Hyperspatially the value of all speed is zero and we do not move with reference to space itself, speed is infinite. I can't explain things a bit more than that. â€Å"Oh, except that one of the beautiful catches in theoretical physics is to place a symbol or a value that has meaning in Gr into an equation dealing with G11 – or vice versa – and leave it there for a student to deal with. The chances are enormous that the student falls into the trap and generally remains there, sweating and panting, with nothing seeming to work, till some kindly elder helps him out. I was neatly caught that way, once.† Pelorat considered that gravely for a while, then said in a perplexed sort of way, â€Å"But which is the true Galaxy?† â€Å"Either, depending on what you're doing. If you're back on Terminus, you can use a car to cover distance on land and a ship to cover distance across the sea. Conditions are different in every way, so which is the true Terminus, the land or the sea?† Pelorat nodded. â€Å"Analogies are always risky,† he said, â€Å"but I'd rather accept that one than risk my sanity by thinking about hyperspace any further. I'll concentrate on what we're doing now.† â€Å"Look upon what we just did,† said Trevize, â€Å"as our first stop toward Earth.† And, he thought to himself, toward what else, I wonder. â€Å"Well,† said Trevize. â€Å"I've wasted a day.† â€Å"Oh?† Pelorat looked up from his careful indexing. â€Å"In what way?† Trevize spread his arms. â€Å"I didn't trust the computer. I didn't dare to, so I checked our present position with the position we had aimed at in the jump. The difference was not measurable. There was no detectable error.† â€Å"That's good, isn't it?† â€Å"It's more than good. It's unbelievable. I've never heard of such a thing. I've gone through jumps and I've directed them, in all kinds of ways and with all kinds of devices. In school, I had to work one out with a hand computer and then I sent off a hyper-relay to check results. Naturally I couldn't send a real ship, since – aside from the expense – I could easily have placed it in the middle of a star at the other end. â€Å"I never did anything that bad, of course,† Trevize went on, â€Å"but there would always be a sizable error. There's always some error, even with experts. There's got to be, since there are so many variables. Put it this way – the geometry of space is too complicated to handle and hyperspace compounds all those complications with a complexity of its own that we can't even pretend to understand. That's why we have to go by steps, instead of making one big jump from here to Sayshell. The errors would grow worse with distance.† Pelorat said, â€Å"But you said this computer didn't make an error.† â€Å"It said it didn't make an error. I directed it to check our actual position with our precalculated position – ‘what is' against ‘what was asked for.' It said that the two were identical within its limits of measurement and I thought: What if it's lying?† Until that moment, Pelorat had held his printer in his hand. He now put it down and looked shaken. â€Å"Are you joking? A computer can't lie. Unless you mean you thought it might be out of order.† â€Å"No, that's not what I thought. Space! I thought it was lying. This computer is so advanced I can't think of it as anything but human – superhuman, maybe. Human enough to have pride – and to lie, perhaps. I gave it directions – to work out a course through hyperspace to a position near Sayshell Planet, the capital of the Sayshell Union. It did, and charted a course in twenty-nine steps, which is arrogance of the worst sort.† â€Å"Why arrogance?† â€Å"The error in the first jump makes the second jump that much less certain, and the added error then makes the third jump pretty wobbly and untrustworthy, and so on. How do you calculate twenty-nine steps all at once? The twenty-ninth could end up anywhere in the Galaxy, anywhere at all. So I directed it to make the first step only. Then we could check that before proceeding.† â€Å"The cautious approach,† said Pelorat warmly. â€Å"I approve!† â€Å"Yes, but having made the first step, might the computer not feel wounded at my having mistrusted it? Would it then be forced to salve its pride by telling me there was no error at all when I asked it? Would it find it impossible to admit a mistake, to own up to imperfection? If that were so, we might as well not have a computer.† Pelorat's long and gentle face saddened. â€Å"What can we do in that case, Golan?† â€Å"We can do what I did – waste a day. I checked the position of several of the surrounding stars by the most primitive possible methods: telescopic observation, photography, and manual measurement. I compared each actual position with the position expected if there had been no error. The work of it took me all day and wore me down to nothing.† â€Å"Yes, but what happened?† â€Å"I found two whopping errors and checked them over and found them in my calculations. I had made the mistakes myself. I corrected the calculations, then ran them through the computer from scratch – just to see if it would come up with the same answers independently. Except that it worked them out to several more decimal places, it turned out that my figures were right and they showed that the computer had made no errors. The computer may be an arrogant son-of-the-Mule, but it's got something to be arrogant about.† Pelorat exhaled a long breath. â€Å"Well, that's good.† â€Å"Yes indeed! So I'm going to let it take the other twenty-eight steps.† â€Å"All at once? But†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Not all at once. Don't worry. I haven't become a daredevil just yet. It will do them one after the other – but after each step it will check the surroundings and, if that is where it is supposed to be within tolerable limits, it can take the next one. Any time it finds the error too great – and, believe me, I didn't set the limits generously at all – it will have to stop and recalculate the remaining steps.† â€Å"When are you going to do this?† â€Å"When? Right now. – Look, you're working on indexing your Library†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Oh, but this is the chance to do it, Golan. I've been meaning to do it for years, but something always seemed to get in the way.† â€Å"I have no objections. You go on and do it and don't worry. Concentrate on the indexing. I'll take care of everything else.† Pelorat shook his head. â€Å"Don't be foolish. I can't relax till this is over. I'm scared stiff.† â€Å"I shouldn't have told you, then – but I had to tell someone and you're the only one here. Let me explain frankly. There's always the chance that we'll come to rest in a perfect position in interstellar space and that that will happen to be the precise position which a speeding meteoroid is occupying, or a mini-black hole, and the ship is wrecked, and ;we're dead. Such things could – in theory – happen. â€Å"The chances are very small, however. After all, you could be at home, Janov – in your study and working on your films or in your bed sleeping – and a meteroid could be streaking toward you through Terminus's atmosphere and hit you right in the head and you'd be dead. But the chances are small. â€Å"In fact, the chance of intersecting the path of something fatal, but too small for the computer to know about, in the course of a hyperspatial jump is far, far smaller than that of berg hit by a meteor in your home. I've never heard of a ship being lost that way in all the history of hyperspatial travel. Any other type of risk – like ending in the middle of a star – is even smaller.† Pelorat said, â€Å"Then why do you tell me all this, Golan?† Trevize paused, then bent his head in thought, and finally said, â€Å"I don't know. – Yes, I do. What I suppose it is, is that however small the chance of catastrophe might be, if enough people take enough chances, the catastrophe must happen eventually. No matter how sure I am that nothing will go wrong, there's a small nagging voice inside me that says, ‘Maybe it will happen this time.' And it makes me feel guilty. – I guess that's it. Janov, if something goes wrong, forgive me!† â€Å"But Golan, my dear chap, if something goes wrong, we will both be dead instantly. I will not be able to forgive, nor you to receive forgiveness.† â€Å"I understand that, so forgive me now, will you?† Pelorat smiled. â€Å"I don't know why, but this cheers me up. There's something pleasantly humorous about it. Of course, Golan, I'll forgive you. There are plenty of myths about some form of afterlife in world literature and if there should happen to be such a place – about the same chance as landing on a mini-black hole, I suppose, or less – and we both turn up in the same one, then I will bear witness that you did your honest best and that my death should not be laid at your door.† â€Å"Thank you! Now I'm relieved. I'm willing to take my chance, but I did not enjoy the thought of you taking my chance as well.† Pelorat wrung the other's hand. â€Å"You know, Golan, I've only known you less than a week and I suppose I shouldn't make hasty judgments in these matters, but I think you're an excellent chap. – And now let's do it and get it over with.† â€Å"Absolutely! All I have to do is touch that little contact. The computer has its instructions and it's just waiting for me to say: ‘Starts' Would you like to†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Never! It's all yours? It's your computer.† â€Å"Very well. And it's my responsibility. I'm still trying to duck it, you see. Keep your eye on the screen!† With a remarkably steady hand and with his smile looking utterly genuine, Trevize made contact. There was a momentary pause and then the starfield changed – and again – and again. The stars spread steadily thicker and brighter over the viewscreen. Pelorat was counting under his breath. At â€Å"15† there was a halt, as though some piece of apparatus had jammed. Pelorat whispered, clearly afraid that any noise might jar the mechanism fatally. â€Å"What's wrong? What's happened?† Trevize shrugged. â€Å"I imagine it's recalculating. Some object in space is adding a perceptible bump to the general shape of the overall gravitational field – some object not taken into account – some uncharted dwarf star or rogue planet†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Dangerous?† â€Å"Since we're still alive, it's almost certainly not dangerous. A planet could be a hundred million kilometers away and still introduce a large enough gravitational modification to require recalculation. A dwarf star could be ten billion kilometers away and†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The screen shifted again and Trevize fell silent. It shifted again – and again. – Finally, when Pelorat said, â€Å"a8,† there was no further motion. Trevize consulted the computer. â€Å"We're here,† he said. â€Å"I counted the first jump as ‘r.' and in this series I started with ‘z' That's twenty-eight jumps altogether. You said twenty-nine.† â€Å"The recalculation at jump is probably saved us one jump. I can check with the computer if you wish, but there's really no need. We're in the vicinity of Sayshell Planet. The computer says so and I don't doubt it. If I were to orient the screen properly, we'd see a nice, bright sun, but there's no point in placing a needless strain on its screening capacity. SaysheIl Planet is the fourth one out and it's about 3.2 million kilometers away from our present position, which is about as close as we want to be at a jump conclusion. We can get there in three days – two, if we hurry.† Trevize drew a deep breath and tried to let the tension drain. â€Å"Do you realize what this means, Janov?† he said. â€Å"Every ship I've ever been in – or heard of – would have made those jumps with at least a day in between for painstaking calculation and re-checking, even with a computer. The trip would have taken nearly a month. â€Å"Or perhaps two or three weeks, if they were willing to be reckless about it. We did it in half an hour. When every ship is equipped with a computer like this one†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Pelorat said, â€Å"I wonder why the Mayor' let us have a ship this advanced. It must be incredibly expensive.† â€Å"It's experimental,† said Trevize dryly. â€Å"Maybe fine good woman was perfectly willing to have us try it out and see what deficiencies might develop.† â€Å"Are you serious?† â€Å"Don't get nervous. After all, there's nothing to worry about. We haven't found any deficiencies. I wouldn't put it past her, though. Such a thing would put no great strain on her sense of humanity. Besides, she hasn't trusted us with offensive weapons and that cuts the expense considerably.† Pelorat said thoughtfully, â€Å"It's the computer I'm thinking about. It seems to be adjusted so well for you – and it can't be adjusted that well for everyone. It just barely works with me.† â€Å"So much the better for us, that it works so well with one of us.† â€Å"Yes, but is that merely chance?† â€Å"What else, Janov?† â€Å"Surely the Mayor knows you pretty well.† â€Å"I think she does, the old battlecraft.† â€Å"Might she not have had a computer designed particularly for you?† â€Å"I just wonder if we're not going where the computer wants to take us.† Trevize stared. â€Å"You mean that while I'm connected to the computer, it is the computer – and not me – who is in real charge?† â€Å"I just wonder.† â€Å"That is ridiculous. Paranoid. Come on, Janov.† Trevize turned back to the computer to focus Sayshell Planet on the screen and to plot a normal-space course to it. Ridiculous! But why had Pelorat put the notion into his head?

Animal Defenses

nimalDefenses Animal AnimAl BehAvior t Animal Communication Animal Courtship Animal Defenses Animal Hunting and Feeding Animal Life in Groups Animal Migration Defenses ChristinA WilsDon Animal Animal Behavior: Animal Defenses Copyright ? 2009 by Infobase Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher.For information, contact: Chelsea House An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wilsdon, Christina. Animal defenses / Christina Wilsdon. p. cm. — (Animal behavior) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-60413-089-8 (hardcover) 1. Animal defenses. I. Title. II. Series. QL759. W55 2009 591. 47—dc22 2008040116 Chelsea House books are available at speci al discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions.Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755. You can find Chelsea House on the World Wide Web at http://www. chelseahouse. com Text design by Kerry Casey Cover design by Ben Peterson Printed in the United States Bang EJB 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is printed on acid-free paper. All links and Web addresses were checked and verified to be correct at the time of publication. Because of the dynamic nature of the Web, some addresses and links may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid.Caption: A thorny devil, native to Australia, is camouflaged in shades of desert browns and tans. The spikes on its body also help protect it from predators. Contents 1 Avoiding Danger 2 Escape Artists 3 Animal Armor 4 Bad Smells, Bad Tastes, and Powerful Poisons 5 Venomous Stings and Bites 6 Mimicry  Fighting Back Glossary Biblio graphy Further Resources Picture Credits Index About the Author 7 22 38 55 73 91 107 124 126 128 130 131 136 1 Avoiding Danger A cheetAh skulks through the tall grass of the African savannah. Head lowered, she stares intently at a herd of gazelles.Her spotted coat blends in with the dry grass, making her nearly invisible as she sneaks up on her prey. The gazelles continue to graze. Between bites of grass, each one snaps up its head to check out its surroundings. Bright eyes scan the horizon. Ears swivel to pick up the slightest sound. Nostrils flare to sniff for the scent of a cheetah, lion, or other hungry predator. Suddenly, a few gazelles snort and stamp their feet. The entire herd goes on high alert. The black bands that run down the gazelles’ sides quiver, passing along the message: â€Å"Danger! Then, some of the gazelles begin bouncing as if on pogo sticks. They spring high in the air with their backs arched and legs stiff. They land on all fours, and then leap again. The cheetah pauses. The gazelles have seen her. It is impossible to launch a surprise attack now. The cheetah depends on one short-lived, startling burst of speed to chase down a gazelle. The gazelles, however, also run fast, hitting speeds of up to 40 miles (64 km) an hour—and they can keep up this speed much longer  8 AnimAl deFenses This female springbok, a kind of antelope, bounces into the air with an rched back and stiff legs. This motion is called stotting or pronking. Springbok typically use it to show predators that they are ? t and hard to catch. Research shows that cheetahs often avoid hunting stotting springbok. than a cheetah can. Their odd jumping behavior, called stotting, signals to the cheetah, â€Å"We have seen you, so do not bother to chase us—we are strong and healthy and can outrun you. † If the cheetah is lucky, perhaps she will find a gazelle fawn hidden in the grass. However, the fawns have tawny coats and can lie still as a stone for a long time.Plus, the fawns’ mothers are Avoiding danger 9 careful not to give the cheetah any clues as to where their young are hiding. Like most wild animals, gazelles are always watching out for danger. Most often, that danger is another animal—in this case, a hungry cheetah. Even domestic animals, such as horses, sheep, and chickens, are on the alert for any threat to their safety. Being alert is the first step an animal takes to defend itself. It is one of many behaviors that animals use to survive in a world filled with predators. Much of an animal’s self-defense behavior comes from within it.Most animals are born â€Å"knowing† how to defend themselves. Scientists call this inborn knowledge instinct. selF-deFense Over millions of years, the many different kinds, or species, of animals have developed ways of defending themselves. Animals might use protective colors, sharp spines, and excellent hearing. An animal has its defensive tools at the ready all the time, whether or not it is in danger. They are known as primary defenses. The gazelle’s primary defenses include its horns, its keen senses, and its speed. A gazelle fawn’s primary defenses include its ability to lie still and its concealing coat color.An animal’s primary defenses are backed up by behaviors known as secondary defenses. The animal uses its secondary defenses when it confronts a predator. A gazelle uses secondary defenses when it stamps, stots, and runs away—or if it is caught by a cheetah or other predator. Gazelle fawns use the most basic form of self-defense: avoid being noticed. Like the fawns, many animals evade detection by hiding, freezing, or blending in with their habitat. This is called crypsis (crypsis comes from a Greek word that means â€Å"hidden. †) 10 AnimAl deFenses lying low Many animals hide to avoid being noticed.Turn over a stone or stir a pile of leaves to reveal a world of hidden creatures: a worm squir ming in the sudden burst of light, a rolled-up pill bug, a centipede quickly scurrying out of sight, tiny springtails, and even tinier mites. Trees and other plants harbor animals seeking hideaways. Insects hide under leaves, along stems, and under scraps of bark. Pale trails winding through a leaf show where the larvae, or young, of various moths and beetles are feeding safely between the leaf’s layers. Etchings in a tree’s bark show where beetles have bored inside to feed on its wood while under cover.Many insects even alter plants to create places to hide. Some caterpillars roll up leaves and seal them shut with sticky silk. Weaver ants seal leaves together with silk made by their larvae, which the adult ants use as if they were glue sticks. Some insects, including species of aphids, midges, and wasps, spur plants to grow protective cases. These cases, called galls, are hard knobs with spongy interiors. As larvae feed on the plant, their saliva induces the growth of these galls. Larger animals also take advantage of the safe shelter provided by plants, rocks, and other parts of their habitat.Birds hide their nests amid grasses, tuck them among branches, bury them deep inside burrows, and conceal them in tree holes. Staying hidden for many hours is not necessary for an animal that can get to a hiding place quickly. Many small rodents feed close to their burrows so they can dive into them at the first glimpse of a hawk overhead. Crabs scuttle swiftly beneath stones. The pancake tortoise of East Africa, which has a flat, flexible shell, wedges itself into a crevice between rocks. The turtle braces its legs so that it cannot easily be pulled out of its hiding spot. The chuckwalla, a lizard that lives n the southwestern United Avoiding danger 11 HIDING BY DAY OR NIGHT many species make use of hideaways only when they are inactive. raccoons, for example, are largely nocturnal— they are most active at night. during most daylight hours, they ar e curled up in a tree cavity, a woodpile, or even an attic, fast asleep. At night, they emerge to look for food. their meals often include other nocturnal animals, such as slugs or mice. As a result of being nocturnal, an animal not only avoids predators that are active by day, but also avoids competing with animals that eat the same food. wo different species that both feed on insects, for example, can use the same resource without competing directly if one is part of the day crew and the other takes the night shift. of course, some predators also are active at night. A nocturnal moth, for example, may be caught by a bat. the bat, in turn, may be caught by an owl. States, also darts into crevices. Then, it inflates its lungs with air so that its body swells up, wedging it in place. A liFe in hiding A variety of species go to the extreme: They spend most of their lives in hiding.Over millions of years, they have adapted to surviving in habitats that keep them under cover. Many kinds of clams, for example, burrow into sandy or muddy beaches. Some species live just under the surface, while others dig deeply. A large clam called the geoduck can bury itself 3 feet (1 meter) below the surface. By burrowing, a clam protects itself from being washed away by waves, drying out in the sun, and being an easy target for 12 AnimAl deFenses predators. It does not need to leave its hiding place to find food. Instead, the clam opens its paired shells and reaches up through the sand with a body part called a siphon.The siphon takes in water, which the clam filters to extract particles of food. If the clam senses vibrations rippling through the sand, it quickly pulls in its siphon. Vibrations may mean a predator is investigating its hiding spot. The clam also may burrow more deeply to escape. Some clams can dig quickly: The razor clam can move 9 inches (22 centimeters) in 1 minute. Other animals find safety in living underground, too. Earthworms spend much of the day burrowing through the soil. If caught by a bird’s probing beak, an earthworm struggles to resist being yanked out of the ground.It grabs onto the walls of its burrow with bristles that line its sides. The worm’s hind end also bulges to help clamp it in place. A mole digging through the earth can send earthworms scuttling out of the soil. Moles eat earthworms and even store them for later, biting them and then stuffing them into holes in their tunnels. A mole rarely needs to poke its head above ground; there, an owl, fox, or weasel might pounce on it. stAying still A prey animal that senses danger does not always seek a hiding place. Some species first try another way of avoiding detection: freezing in place.Many predators can easily spot prey in motion, but are less likely to notice a still animal, especially if it blends into the background. A moving rabbit out in the open, for example, is an easy target for a hawk. To avoid being spotted, the rabbit crouches low and freezes in place. Its stillness reduces the chances of it being seen, and its low profile makes it look more like a mound of dirt than a round-bodied animal sitting on the ground. Avoiding danger 13 ESCAPE HATCHES Animals dig dwellings underground for many reasons. A den or burrow provides relief from extreme heat or cold. t can serve as a nursery for helpless young. some animals store food in their burrows. A handy burrow also provides a safe spot when a predator appears. prairie dogs, which live on the grasslands of the united states, build extensive communities of burrows called towns. At the sight of a predator, a prairie dog immediately alerts its family and neighbors with shrill barks. in a ? ash, the prairie dogs dive into their burrows and out of sight. their tunnels, which spread far, wide, and deep, provide the animals with many hideouts and escape routes. iggers, such as chipmunks and ground squirrels, also include emergency exits in their homes. that way, there’s an escape route if a badger digs up the burrow or a snake slips into it. African mammals called meerkats have hundreds of tunnels called â€Å"bolt holes† in their territory. if a predator appears, they run, or â€Å"bolt,† into them. Ground squirrels, like this marmot, create dwellings underground in part to hide quickly from predators. 14 AnimAl deFenses In much the same way, newborn deer lie still among ferns and grasses while their mothers spend time away from them, feeding on leaves.The fawns, born without any odor that would lure a predator, rely on their stillness as well as their spots to avoid detection on the sun-dappled woodland floor. Pronghorn antelope fawns remain still for hours on end, lying in tall grass to escape the notice of coyotes and eagles. The chicks of spotted sandpipers and many other birds also crouch and freeze when danger threatens. Though many crouch-and-freeze creatures also benefit from coloration that helps them blend in with their background, s uch camouflage is not a requirement for â€Å"the freeze† to work.A squirrel, for example, is usually a highly visible animal as it busily dashes along branches or springs across a lawn. Should a dog or other animal threaten it, however, the squirrel scrambles up a tree trunk, circles to the side of the trunk opposite the predator, and freezes. If the predator follows it, the squirrel scurries to the other side of the trunk and freezes again. Using this spiraling method, the squirrel keeps a blockade between it and its attacker—even if the attacker is incapable of climbing the tree in pursuit. hiding in plAin sightCamouflage, also known as cryptic coloration, is the one-sizefits-all defense in the world of animals. Animals as small as insects and as large as the boldly patterned giraffe—towering at a height of 18 feet (6 m)—depend on their cryptic colorations to help them blend in. Colors and patterns may camouflage an animal not only by helping it blend in, but also by breaking up its shape. That way, a predator does not recognize it at first. An animal’s coloring can Avoiding danger 15 Walkingsticks are insects that look like twigs. They are able to blend in with trees to avoid predators. ide the roundness of its body, making it look flat. Colors and patterns also can help hide an animal’s shadow. Cryptic coloration can be as simple as the sandy fur of a fennec fox, which blends with the tones of its desert home. It can be as complex as the camouflage of a giant swallowtail caterpillar, which looks like a bird dropping on a leaf. The fox â€Å"hides in plain sight,† while the caterpillar stays safe by resembling something that does not interest a predator one bit. Many cryptically colored animals just need to freeze or lie low to be protected. A pointy thorn bug sitting on a stem, for example, looks like a thorn.A grasshopper or katydid that 16 AnimAl deFenses resembles a leaf just needs to sit on a leafy twig to blend in and look like a leaf. Some animals go one step further and behave in ways that enhance their camouflage. Walkingsticks are part of this cast of animal actors. These long, thin insects naturally resemble twigs, complete with sharply bent limbs and bumpy joints. They are closely related to the fantastically shaped leaf insects, which have body parts shaped and colored to look like leaves—right down to leaf veins, nibbled edges, and brown spots of decay.But walkingsticks don’t just look like sticks, and leaf insects don’t just look like leaves. They act like them, too. While sitting still they sway slowly, mimicking the motion of a twig or leaf in the breeze. Leaf insects have been known to dangle from a stem by one leg, as if they were leaves about to drop. If threatened, many leaf insects will fall to the ground, landing on their feet and scuttling away. Other insects imitate plant galls, seeds, and flowers. The African flower mantis takes on the col oring of the flower on which it lives. This is also true of the Malaysian orchid mantis, which has legs that look like flower petals.The camouflage patterns on many moths’ wings imitate patterns of tree bark and the lichen growing on it. Moths instinctively use this camouflage to their advantage. The pine hawk-moth perches on a tree with its head pointing up. This lines up the stripes on its wings with the bark’s furrows. The waved umber moth perches sideways on trees. That’s because its stripes run across its wings. The sideways perch lines up these stripes with the bark’s pattern. Among the insects, caterpillars excel at combining cryptic coloration with deceptive behavior. A caterpillar’s job is to eat and grow while avoiding being eaten by birds.A caterpillar must also avoid tiny wasps eager to lay their eggs on it. The eggs hatch into larvae that feed on the caterpillar. Avoiding danger 1 A Costa Rican rainforest species of moth caterpillar c alled Navarcostes limnatis looks like a diseased leaf covered with fungus. It adds a rocking motion to this disguise so that it appears to be quivering in a breeze. Another caterpillar, the larva of a butterfly called the meander leafwing, crawls to the tip of a leaf after hatching. It eats the parts of the leaf that stick out on either side of the sturdy rib running down the leaf’s iddle. Then it sits on the rib so that it looks like a bit of nibbled leaf itself. The caterpillar will continue to eat the leaf over the next few days. It binds scraps of leaf to the rib with silk secreted by its body and hides among them. Insects are stars when it comes to combining camouflage with a convincing performance, but other animals also use this tactic. The leafy sea dragon of Australian waters is one example. It has frills that make it look like a bit of drifting seaweed. The sea dragon also rocks slowly and rhythmically, mirroring the swaying of seaweed in its habitat.Half a world aw ay, the leaf fish of South America’s Amazon River floats slowly on its side, its flattened, brown body resembling a dead leaf drifting in the water. Its snout looks like the leaf’s stalk. This behavior allows the fish to avoid predators and hunt its own prey without being noticed. Many tree frogs also imitate leaves or other plant parts. The red-eyed tree frog, for example, snuggles into the curve of a leaf during the day. Its bright green body blends with the leaf. The frog tucks its legs and big orange feet close to its blueand-yellow sides so that the vivid colors are hidden.Finally, it closes its bulging red eyes, hiding them under gold-flecked lids. The frog can see through these lids to watch for danger as it naps. Even some larger animals manage to pull off the trick of resembling an object. The potoo, a nocturnal bird of Central and South America, spends the day perched on a dead branch. Its feathers, mottled with brown and gray, work as camouflage. 18 AnimAl d eFenses The potoo holds its body at an angle that makes it look like just another dead branch. On the other side of the globe, a look-alike nocturnal bird called the tawny frogmouth poses the same way.Another bird actor is the American bittern, which lives in wetlands. When it is startled, it stretches its long, thin neck and body and points its sharp bill to the sky. In this position, the streaks of brown running down its breast blend in with the tall, grassy plants around it. The bittern also sways gently, just like the breeze-ruffled reeds. chAnging color Sometimes, an animal’s camouflage won’t work if the habitat changes or an animal travels to another part of its habitat. A number of animals solve this problem by changing color. Some animals change color as the seasons change.The willow ptarmigan, an Arctic bird, is mottled brown in summer and blends in with the ground, rocks, and plants. In winter, it is white with a black tail and nearly disappears against a bac kground of snow and occasional twigs. In spring and fall, as it molts (sheds) old feathers and grows new ones, the bird is a mixture of brown and white—just like the patchy snow-spotted world around it. Some animals change color within weeks or days. Many caterpillars change color as they grow, shedding a skin of one color to reveal another that can protect them better as they move about more to feed.Crab spiders can change color in just a few days to match the flowers in which they lurk. Bark bugs of Central America grow darker when moistened with water. This helps them blend in with rain-darkened tree trunks. Some reptiles, fish, and other creatures can change color in just a few hours. Many tree frogs, for example, can go from green to brown. Horned lizards of the southwestern United States can Avoiding danger 19 The feathers of the willow ptarmigan change color with the seasons: white in winter months to blend with snow and brown or mixed colors in other months to blend w ith plants and the earth.This enables the bird to often be naturally camou? aged from predators. change their brown and gray tones to best fit their surroundings. The flounder, a flat-bodied fish with its eyes on the side of its head, lies on the ocean floor and takes on the color and texture of the sandy, stony surface in as little as two hours. Other animals work even faster. Many octopuses, cuttlefish, and squids can change color in less than one second. An octopus can change from solid red to multiple colors, or even white, to match its background. It can also change the texture of its skin to resemble sand or stones.A cuttlefish can make light and dark waves ripple down its back, reflecting the way sunlight shimmers in water. 20 AnimAl deFenses mAsking: AnimAls in disguise Some species push the defense tactics of hiding and camouflage to the max by actually wearing costumes. This behavior is known as masking. The decorator crab, found in the eastern Pacific Ocean, is named for its habit of disguising itself. The crab picks seaweed, anemones, and sponges and puts them on its shell. Bristles on the shell work like Velcro to hold these items in place. In this disguise, the crab looks like another weed-covered rock.When the crab outgrows its shell and sheds it during molting, it takes the decorations off its old shell and plants them on its new one. Decorator crabs share the eastern Pacific with sharp-nosed crabs, which sometimes stick seaweed on the sharp front edges of their shells. Other species of crab disguise themselves, too. The camouflage crab of New Zealand adorns its shell and legs with seaweed (and sometimes snacks on bits of it). The sponge crab uses its hind legs to hold a live sponge on its shell. The shell is covered with algae, which has settled on the shell just as it would on a stone.Hermit crabs sometimes plant anemones on their shells. Anemones have stinging cells in their tentacles, so they provide an extra layer of protection for the cra b. In return, the crab takes them to new feeding grounds, and the anemones can dine on tidbits from the crab’s meals. Another species, the anemone crab, has claws equipped with hooks for gripping anemones. Any predator that approaches this crab will have the stinging anemones waved in its face. Some insects also use masking. A wavy-lined emerald caterpillar cuts petals from the flowers it feeds on.Then it attaches the petals to spines on its body and fastens them in place with silk. When the petals wilt, it replaces them. This habit has earned the caterpillar the alternative name of camouflaged looper. Other Avoiding danger 21 kinds of looper caterpillars mask themselves with flowers, leaves, and bits of bark. The larvae of many kinds of caddis fly mask themselves in camouflaged cases. The cases are made out of material from the larva’s freshwater habitat: grains of sand, small stones and shells, leaves, twigs, bits of wood, or pine needles.The materials are bound toge ther with sticky or silky fluids produced by the larva’s body. A hooked pair of legs at the larva’s hind end hang on to the case as the larva creeps about in search of food. Hiding, camouflage, and masking help animals avoid predators. Animals’ behaviors and bodies have changed over millions of years in ways that help them survive. Scientists call these changes adaptations. The process of change over time is called evolution. Predators have also evolved so that they could keep finding prey. When they do, the prey must turn to another form of self-defense. 2 Escape Artists iding, stAnding still, and camouflage help many animals avoid predators, but these defenses do not work all the time. Predators may find hiding places, stumble over prey lying stockstill, or discover that a leaf is actually an insect in disguise. Prey animals need a second line of defense. For many animals, this defense is escape. Escape often means fleeing as quickly as possible. Escape also m ay involve behaviors that buy an animal a few extra seconds to get away. This could be startling a predator or distracting it. Some animals go so far as to actually lose body parts to aid in their escape.A few appear to give up by playing dead. Fleeing An animal without a burrow or other hiding place can choose between fight and flight. It can stand its ground and face a predator or make a quick getaway. Fighting may be used as a last resort; fleeing is the first response to danger. Many long-legged, hoofed animals literally run for their lives, relying on sheer speed to escape. Horses, for example, can gallop at speeds of 30 miles (48 kilometers) per hour or more. 22 escape Artists 23 Deer race away just as quickly. The pronghorn of western North American grasslands can run about 50 miles (80 km) per hour.This burst of speed may enable an animal to leave its pursuer in the dust. If the predator persists, however, many hoofed animals can run fast for several miles. A pronghorn can r un at 35 miles (56 km) per hour for about 4 miles (6 km). Running works well for speedy four-legged animals. It also serves some two-legged ones. The ostrich, the world’s largest bird at 8 feet tall (2. 4 m), cannot fly. Other than lions and jackals, few animals prey on it. If pursued, an ostrich can outrun and outlast most predators. It can cruise at speeds up to 40 miles (64 km) an hour and run at a slightly slower speed for 20 minutes orWhen ? eeing a predator, the basilisk lizard musters up enough energy to be able to run on water. 24 AnimAl deFenses more. The rhea, a flightless bird of South America, can also run swiftly and turn on a dime. Roadrunners of the southwestern United States deserts can fly, but prefer to run. They can zip along at 18. 6 miles (30 km) an hour. The basilisk lizard normally gets around on four legs, but switches to two when it’s threatened. The lizard lives in trees in rainforests of Central America. When a predator creeps up on it, the b asilisk drops out of the tree and lands in the water.Then, it rises on its hind legs and runs across the surface of the water. The basilisk dashes about 15 feet (4. 5 m) in three seconds flat before dropping forward to swim with all four legs. A kangaroo cannot run, but it can leap away from danger. A red kangaroo can hop at 20 miles (32 km) an hour for long distances, and 30 miles (48 km) an hour for a short distance. Some people have clocked red kangaroos going even faster. Grasshoppers and crickets leap to safety, too. Beach hoppers, which are related to pill bugs, pop into the air by snapping their abdomens and pushing with four of their hind legs.Swimming, slithering, climbing, and flying from danger all work just as well as running and jumping. An octopus, for example, escapes predators by filling its body with water, then pushing the water out through a tube-like body part called a siphon. This motion, called jetting, lets an octopus scoot away quickly in any direction. As it jets away, it emits a cloud of ink to hide its escape and further confuse its pursuer. Shellfish called scallops also jet away from danger. When a scallop senses that a sea star is near, it opens and shuts its shell, forcing out jets of water that scoot it away.Another ocean creature, the flying fish, escapes predators by swimming quickly just under the water’s surface, then streaking up and out of the water while stretching out a pair of wing-like fins. It sails through the air for up to 20 seconds before diving back into the water. escape Artists 25 Some animals roll away from danger. Wheel spiders, which live in Africa’s Namib Desert, start their escape from predatory wasps by running. Then, they suddenly fold their legs and flip sideways to roll down sand dunes like wheels. They can roll at a speed of about 3 feet (1 m) per second.The caterpillar of the mother-of-pearl moth also goes for a spin to escape by curling into a circle and then pushing off. A species of mantis shrimp, found along some Pacific shores, rolls up and pushes itself along in a series of backward somersaults. Many predators, however, also have speed on their side. Their prey must often use other tactics besides pure speed to make their escape. One way to make a pursuer work harder is to zigzag. A rabbit running from a coyote, for example, does not run endlessly in a straight line. Instead, it dodges back and forth, forcing the coyote to change direction and make sharp turns, too.Zigzagging is easier for a rabbit, which is small, than for the larger coyote. The coyote also cannot tell when the rabbit will dodge this way or that, so it cannot plan its next move. In this way, the rabbit makes the chase more difficult and tiring for the coyote. Though a coyote may still succeed in catching its prey, there is a chance that it may tire out, give up, and go look for an easier meal. Other animals also dart and dash when chased. A herd of impala, slender antelopes of African grass lands, not only run from a predator but also zigzag in all directions.Impala also leap over each other as they run, sometimes springing as high as 10 feet (3 m) into the air. This explosion of activity startles and confuses a predator. It also makes it difficult for a predator to chase any one animal. Zigzagging mixed with freezing can confuse predators, too. Frogs and grasshoppers will jump in one direction, then freeze, only to pop off in another direction if the predator comes near. A predator may not be able to focus on its prey with all the 26 AnimAl deFenses unexpected starts and stops. Likewise, a cottontail rabbit may go from zigzagging to freezing as it flees.When it runs, it flashes its puffy white tail like a target. When it freezes, it sits on its tail. The predator may lose track of the rabbit because the tail has vanished. stArtling A predAtor Anyone who has jumped when startled knows how a predator might feel when its prey suddenly bursts into motion after being nearl y invisible. The shock of the prey’s sudden reappearance is ELUDING BATS Bats hunt on the wing at night. they send out pulses of sound and listen for the echoes to locate their prey. this process is called echolocation. using it, a bat can pinpoint even tiny insects in ? ight. nsects have developed escape behaviors to avoid echolocation. some moths can hear the high-pitched sounds that bats send out. A moth may ? y in loops to avoid being detected. if a moth senses that a bat is close, it will simply fold its wings and drop from the sky. some moths go one step further and jam the bat’s signals. A moth does this by making sounds that are similar to the echoes that the bat is trying to hear. this can throw the bat off course just long enough to help the moth escape. scientists have recently discovered that some moths make sounds that warn bats not to eat them because they taste bad.Bats quickly learn to avoid these moths after a few taste tests. some species of moth that do not taste bad imitate the sounds of the foul-tasting ones, which tricks the bats into steering clear of them, too. escape Artists 2 enough to make a predator flinch or pause for a fraction of a second. That little bit of extra time can let an animal escape with its life. A variety of animals even sport special colors or body parts to help them startle predators. These colors and parts are used in behaviors called startle displays. A startle display may be used to fend off an attack right from the start.Many startle displays of this type involve suddenly flashing a vivid color or pattern. This is the tactic used by the io moth, which lives in North America. At rest, an io moth is pale yellow or brown. But if a bird attempts to grab it, the io moth quickly moves its forewings. This reveals two hind wings boldly colored with a pair of big black spots surrounded by a circle of yellow. These spots look like eyes, and are called eyespots. To a bird, the display of eyespots may look l ike the sudden appearance of a larger bird, such as an owl— its own predator.The startled bird may fly away rather than risk its life, or it may pause long enough for the moth to escape. Eyespots are found on the wings of hundreds of species of moths and butterflies. They are also seen on many caterpillars. A swallowtail butterfly’s plump green body has two huge yellow eyespots on its humped front end. This makes it look like a snake. When threatened, the vine hawk moth’s brown caterpillar curls into a â€Å"C† and bulges its yellow eyespots. A Malaysian hawk moth caterpillar puffs up its front end when threatened. This makes its eyespots open wide.It also snaps its head back and forth as if it were a snake about to strike. Other insects flash startling eyespots, too. The African flower mantis, which usually blends in with the shapes and colors of its flowery habitat, flares out wings with eyespots when it is threatened. The eyed click beetle has two blac k eyespots behind its head. An Australian moth caterpillar has eyespots that are normally hidden in the folds of its body. When it flexes its hind end, the folds open like lids to reveal the â€Å"eyes. † 28 AnimAl deFenses Patches of color that do not look like eyes also make effective startle displays.These colors are often hidden until an animal flees. The sudden appearance of this ? ash coloration can stop a predator in its tracks just long enough to let the prey escape. A red-eyed tree frog, for example, usually blends in with the leaf on which it sleeps. If a predator bothers it, the frog first pops open its enormous red eyes. Then it leaps away, turning from a plain green frog into a rainbow of color as its orange-footed legs unfold and its blue and yellow sides appear. This sudden splash of color startles the predator and buys the frog time to get away. Octopuses also abruptly give up on camouflage when they are under attack.An alarmed octopus can burst into startling colors or patterns in less than a second. A fish or turtle that sees A ? ash of the red-eyed tree frog’s large red eyes can surprise predators, and give it time to escape. Escape Artists 29 BLUFFING Startle displays are often part of a behavior called bluf? ng. Bluf? ng is a tactic used by animals to make them â€Å"look tough† to a predator. An animal that may be completely harmless acts as if it is actually quite ferocious and possibly dangerous. A predator may back off rather than risk getting injured. Many lizards combine a startle display with a bluff.A chameleon facing a predator, for example, may suddenly turn dark as it puffs up its body to look larger. It also hisses, often revealing a brightly colored mouth. The frilled lizard of Australia confronts predators with a wide-open yellow or pink mouth. It adds to this display by opening huge ? aps of skin on its neck, which are splotched with red, orange, black, and white. The big frills make the lizard look much larger and more intimidating. Another Australian lizard, the bearded dragon, likewise gapes its yellow-lined mouth and raises a beard of spiky skin under its chin. The beard also turns blue-black. ts intended meal suddenly turn black or zebra-striped is often scared away. Many kinds of stick insects, grasshoppers, butterflies, moths, and other insects also flash bright colors when fleeing a predator. The colors disappear when they leap or fly to a new spot and fold their wings. They then blend in with their surroundings as they sit perfectly still. Sometimes just a spot of color can do the trick. The shingleback skink of Australia is a stumpy, short-legged lizard. Its earth-tone colors usually hide it. However, the skink startles potential predators by suddenly opening its mouth and sticking out its thick, blue tongue.It also huffs and puffs, hissing like a 30 AnimAl deFenses snake. Another Australian lizard that uses this startle display is the blue-tongued skink, named for its tu rquoise tongue. An Australian legless lizard called the excitable delma does not have startling colors, but it still spooks predators with its behavior. If bothered, this animal twists and turns its body violently as it slithers away. This odd behavior may startle and confuse a predator. deFlecting An AttAck Startle displays and bluffs can help an animal escape in the nick of time.Another tactic is to trick a predator into attacking the â€Å"wrong† part of its prey or misjudging which direction the prey will go as it tries to escape. An animal can live to see another day if it can keep its head and body safe by getting a predator to merely nip its tail instead. Colors, markings, and behaviors that encourage a predator to focus on the wrong end of its prey are called de? ection displays because they redirect, or deflect, an attack. Deflection displays often make use of eyespots. Unlike eyespots that are flashed to scare a predator, these eyespots show on an animal’s hi nd end at all times.They draw a predator’s attention away from the prey’s head. As a predator lunges, it focuses on the prominent eyespot at the prey’s tail end instead of on the prey’s head. The prey’s actual eyes may be hidden among stripes or spots. Eyespots like these are common among fish, especially coral-reef species such as butterfly fish. The four-eyed butterfly fish, for example, has false eyes near its tail that look just like its real eyes. The threadfin butterfly fish has a dark spot on a fin toward its rear. A dark stripe on its head runs through its actual eye, which make it less noticeable.Angled stripes on its sides also guide a predator’s eye toward its tail. If attacked, each fish may lose a bit of its tail, but escape with its life. Escape Artists 31 A juvenile emperor angel? sh has an eyespot near its tail, which makes a predator focus on the wrong end. Juvenile emperor angelfish, another coral-reef species, are covered with loops of white and light blue on a dark background. These loops swirl around a large eyespot near the angelfish’s tail, while its actual eyes disappear among the stripes on its head. A predator’s gaze is naturally pulled to the wrong end.Insects also use eyespots in their deflection displays. These eyespots are always visible, not like the eyespots used to startle predators. They are also smaller and closer to the wings’ edges. Many species of butterfl ies sport such eyespots on their hind wings. A bird that snaps at the wrong end of such a butterfly leaves notches in the wings but loses out on a meal. Some 32 AnimAl deFenses butterfl ies have hind wings tipped with fake legs and antennae. Scientists have noticed that some of these butterfl ies will even creep backward along a stem for a second or two after landing, which might help fool a nearby predator.One butterfly found in Malaysia has such a convincing â€Å"head† on its hind end that it is som etimes called the back-to-front butterfly. Other insects rely on false heads to dodge predators, too. A lanternfly of Southeast Asia has antennae lookalikes dangling from the ends of its wings near a pair of eyespots. When the wings are folded, the lanternfly’s tail looks like a head. The insect even walks backward when it senses danger. Some lanternflies turn this trick around and have heads that look like tails. The giant desert centipede of the southwestern United States is not an insect, but it uses the false-head trick, too.Its tail end looks just like its head, right down to antennae-like attachments. If a predator grabs the centipede’s hind end because it mistakes it for the head, the centipede can twist around and bite it. The shingleback skink, a lizard of Australia, also uses this tactic. Its stumpy head and tail look nearly identical. A predator that grabs the wrong â€Å"head† will be surprised to see the skink scurry off in the opposite direction. M any snakes also use the two-headed trick. They roll up in a ball and hide their heads in their coils when under attack. Then they wave their tails to threaten the predator and deflect its attack.These snakes sometimes have bright colors on their tails that enhance this trick. Southeast Asian snakes called kraits, for example, wave red tails. The ring-necked snake of North America coils its tail to display the bright orange-red underside. The color and coiling can distract a predator. In Africa, the shovel-snouted snake coils its tail, too. Other kinds of snakes even jab their tails at their attackers as if they were going to bite them. Escape Artists 33 Tail markings are common among animals, and some scientists are taking a second look at them to see which ones may be used as deflection displays.The black tip on a weasel’s tail, for example, may help trick a hawk into trying to grab the skinny tail instead of the body or head. LOSING LIMBS AND TAILS Some animals whose tails are grabbed have a surprise in store for their attackers. Shockingly, their tails break off while their owners escape. Many North American species of skinks, for example, have bright blue tails when they are young. A skink’s blue tail works as a deflection display to protect its head. But if a predator actually seizes the tail, it breaks off. The skink runs away, leaving its tail wriggling and squirming behind it. The predator gets nothing but a bony mouthful.The skink’s tail later grows back. The broken-tail trick is used by many kinds of lizards, even ones that do not have brightly colored tails. Geckos, anoles, and iguanas all can shed their tails. This is also true of some legless lizards, which are called â€Å"glass snakes† because of the way their tails shatter when they break. The predator doesn’t break these lizards’ tails: The lizards do it themselves. The movement of muscles in the tail causes one of the tailbones to snap in half. Some r odents can also shed part of their tails. Spiny rats, which live in parts of South and Central America, have tails that break off.Gerbils and some species of rats and mice lose the outer layer of skin and fur on their tails. The spiny rats are left with stumps, but rodents that shed their tails’ covering lose the rest of the tail later. Unlike lizards, rodents do not grow back the missing parts. Tails are not the only body parts shed by animals. Some animals dispose of their limbs instead. Some species of octopus 34 AnimAl deFenses can release some of their arms if they are attacked. The wriggling arms distract the predator and let the prey escape. Large tropical centipedes also toss off legs if they feel threatened.The lost legs writhe and even make squeaky noises to distract predators. Octopuses grow new limbs. Centipedes don’t, but they have so many legs that the loss of a few doesn’t harm them. A crab also can drop a claw or leg if attacked. Some species pin ch their attackers first and then release the pinched claw. The crab runs away while the predator frantically tries to remove the painful claw. Lobsters also release their claws in this way. Crabs and lobsters replace the claws over time as they molt and grow new outer coverings called exoskeletons. Insects and spiders, such as the daddy longlegs, have legs that are easily pulled off by predators.They do not grow new legs, but get around just fine with the remaining ones. Some geckos save their skins by losing them. These geckos are covered with an outer layer of skin that is only loosely connected to the skin underneath. The outer layer slips off if a predator grabs them. The gecko scurries away as if it had simply popped out of a sleeping bag. Birds cannot shed their skins, but they can lose feathers. Normally, a bird’s feathers cannot easily be pulled out. However, a predator that grabs a bird’s tail is often left with a mouthful of feathers. This feather loss is ca lled fright molting.Some scientists think it may help a bird wriggle out of the clutches of an owl or other predator, just as a butterfly sheds wing scales as it struggles to escape a spider’s web. They also think that a bird can fright molt in midair, leaving a burst of feathers behind it that might deflect a hawk’s attack. Though many animals lose parts of their outsides to defend themselves, some species of sea cucumbers lose their insides instead. These plump, slippery ocean animals usually are protected escape Artists 35 by sticky mucus covering their bodies. If a sea cucumber is attacked, it expels its internal organs from its hind end.The sticky guts can trap a crab or startle a bigger predator. Then the sea cucumber creeps away while its attacker either struggles with the messy organs or eats them. Within a few weeks, the sea cucumber grows new organs. plAying deAd A variety of animals escape death by playing dead. This defense is called death feigning. Animals that play dead may seem as if they are offering themselves up on a platter. Yet, many predators hunt prey in response to movement. Many animals also do not eat prey that they have not killed. By playing dead, an animal may make its attacker lose interest.A predator may also get careless if its prey seems to be dead. It may relax its grip and give the prey a chance to escape. Many insects are known to feign death. These insect actors include many species of beetles, grasshoppers, stick insects, and caterpillars. Some insects curl up and remain still. Others let go of branches and drop to the ground. Certain reptiles, such as chameleons and many tree snakes, also drop to the ground and lie still. Many birds also go limp when caught by a predator, and then instantly â€Å"come back to life† at the fi rst chance for escape. Baby ospreys play dead in the nest when their mother gives a warning call.Going limp and lying still works well for many animals, but a few species deserve A cademy Awards for their death-feigning skills. Among these â€Å"best actors† are the opossum and the hognose snake, both found in North America. An opossum defends itself at first by growling, hissing, and showing its teeth. If this does not frighten away the dog or other 36 AnimAl deFenses The opossum keeps predators away by curling up and playing dead. This pretend act is the reason for the phrase â€Å"playing possum,† which means to fake being dead. escape Artists 3 SEA SLUGS VERSUS SPINY LOBSTER ctopuses, squids, and cuttle? sh squirt ink as they escape. scientists assumed this was a defense behavior. now, because of a recent discovery in sea slugs, researchers are taking a closer look at the ink. certain species of sea slugs also produce inky clouds. the ink was known to taste bad. now, however, scientists know that the ink changes the behavior of a predator called the spiny lobster. chemicals in the ink seem to muddle the lobster’s actions. An â€Å"in ked† lobster gives up its attack on a slug. it may groom itself and begin digging and grabbing at the sand with its claws, as if it were feeding. erhaps other animals’ ink also affects their predators in ways yet to be discovered. animal that is threatening it, the opossum â€Å"drops dead. † It rolls onto its side, rounds its back, and goes limp. Its tongue lolls from its open mouth. Its eyes close halfway—just enough to let it keep track of its predator. An opossum will keep playing dead even if the predator bites it. It does not revive until the predator goes away and the coast is clear again. Hognose snakes also use other defenses before resorting to playing dead. A frightened hognose snake will first raise its head, spread its neck wide, and hiss.Then, it will produce a bad smell. If this act fails, the snake flips onto its back and lies still. Like the opossum, it opens its mouth and lets its tongue hang out. If it is picked up and placed on its bell y, it will keep flipping onto its back and playing dead. 3 Animal Armor A giAnt reptile lumbers through a patch of low-growing plants. It swings its head to the side to snatch a mouthful of leaves. The head is covered with flat, bony plates. Sharp triangles stick out from the sides like horns. Spikes also run down the sides of its broad, domed back, which is shingled with bony plates.This spiky, armored reptile is an ankylosaurus, a dinosaur that lived about 70 million years ago. It was one of the most heavily armored of all dinosaurs. The bony plates in its skin were welded to its skeleton in some places. Even its eyelids contained pads of bone. Few meat-eating dinosaurs could take on this armored dinosaur, which was as long as a school bus and as heavy as a tank. If a predator did try to sink its teeth into an ankylosaurus’s armored back, the reptile had one more defense. It swung its huge tail at its enemy—a tail that ended in a massive club of fused bone.Armor was a primary form of defense for prehistoric animals. Today, many animals still use it. Sharp spikes and spines, tough bony plates, shells, and thick skin help protect animals from the teeth, jaws, and claws of predators. 38 Animal Armor 39 spikes And spines Most insects have thick outer skeletons that serve as armor. These exoskeletons may also boast spikes and spines, which add to an insect’s defense. Many species of crickets and grasshoppers, for example, have spines on their legs and backs. Many ants have spines in the middle of their back that protect them from other insects’ nipping jaws.Praying mantises have spurs on their claws that not only help in grabbing prey, but also inflict wounds on predators. Caterpillars typically have soft bodies. This makes them tempting morsels for predators. But most caterpillars have other ways to protect themselves. Some have spikes or spiny, hair-like A caterpillar’s bristles, like those of this gypsy moth caterpillar, can be used as a defense against predators. 40 AnimAl deFenses bristles. Caterpillars can be so bristly that they appear to have fur. The bristles irritate a predator’s skin and eyes. If a predator accidentally inhales some bristles, they can hurt its nose, throat, and lungs.Other small animals have spines, spikes, and bristles, too. The spined spider has an array of big, red spines on its body. Millipedes have bundles of barbed bristles along their bodies and on their hind ends. These bristles come off and get stuck in the faces and jaws of ants and other predators. Large spiders called tarantulas also defend themselves with bristles. A tarantula uses two of its hind legs to rub bristles off its abdomen, which sends hundreds of the tiny barbed bristles at the attacker. The bristles irritate its eyes, nose, and mouth. Spikes and spines also protect animals that live underwater.The tiny young, or larvae, of crabs have spines that help them float while also repelling fish. Likewise , spiny lobsters are protected by spines that line their antennae and point forward along their shells. The crown-of-thorns sea star is also spiny. This sea star has as many as 19 arms, with sturdy pink or yellow spines poking out of its orange, red, and purple skin. The spines not only pierce skin, but also deliver a dose of painful venom. Sea urchins are like living pincushions. Their hard, round bodies bristle with spines. An urchin uses its spines to help it move. The sharp spines also keep many predators at bay.Some sea urchins’ spines are connected to glands that make venom. Long-spined hatpin urchins have venomous spines that can be up to 12 inches (30 cm) long. Some species of fish and jellyfish hide in hatpin urchins. Stonefish have spines connected to venom glands, too. These are well-camouflaged fish that lie on the seabed in some tropical waters. Their spines pierce and kill predators that grab them. Surgeonfish, which also live in tropical waters, have a pair of Animal Armor 41 Sea urchins, like this common sea urchin found along the coast of Scotland, use their bristles for moving as well as defense. azor-like spines on either side of the tail. The fish slashes at attackers with these spines. Sticklebacks are named for the spines that stick up on their backs. A stickleback can lock these spines in an upright position. The number of spines varies, as shown by their names, which range from three- to fifteen-spined stickleback. The porcupine fish’s name is likewise a clue to its defense. This fish is covered with sharp spines. When threatened, the fish inflates its body with water, and the spines stick out in all directions. This makes the fish too big for some predators to 42 AnimAl deFenses wallow. It startles other predators, which may decide not to tackle the suddenly enlarged prey. A variety of lizards also wear spike-studded armor. The well-named thorny devil resembles a miniature dragon as it strolls across the Australian sand, looking for ants to eat. Spikes of many sizes jut from its legs, sides, tail, back, and head. Despite its name, a thorny lizard is not aggressive. If threatened, it tucks its head between its front legs. This makes a large, spiky bump on its neck stick out—a bump that looks like an even more unappetizing head than the lizard’s actual one.Just as prickly are the horned lizards of dry lands and deserts in parts of Mexico and the southwestern United States. A This thorny devil shows off its spikes of many sizes as it walks along a street in the Northern Territory, Australia. Animal Armor 43 horned lizard has spines running down its sides, back, and tail. Strong, sharp horns jut from its head, making it look like a tiny triceratops. If a predator threatens it, a horned lizard puffs up its body so that its spines stick out. It also turns its head to present its horns. Some species can also squirt blood from the corners of their eyes.The blood can shoot out up to 3 feet (1 m ). The blood tastes bad, so the squirt both surprises and disgusts a predator. The armadillo lizard of southern Africa is also spiky. It makes the most of its spikes by rolling into a ball and grabbing its tail in its mouth when threatened. This turns the lizard into a prickly doughnut. Mammals also make use of spines for protection. Porcupines, for example, fend off predators with spines called quills. There are about 25 species of porcupine. About half of them are found in Europe, Asia, and Africa. The rest are found in Central and South America, with one species living in North America.A North American porcupine is covered with about 30,000 long, sharp quills. The quills range from half an inch (1. 3 cm) to 5 inches (12. 7 cm) long. A porcupine warns enemies before they attack. It lowers its head, lifts its tail, and raises its quills and rattles them. It also clacks its teeth, stamps its feet, and gives off a very strong smell from a patch of skin on its back. If the attacker pe rsists, the porcupine will back up toward it and whack it with its tail. The quills, which are barbed at the end, pop off the porcupine and stick in the attacker’s skin.They are painful and can actually drill deeper into skin and muscles over time. The African crested porcupine also warns predators not to mess with it. It shakes its tail, making a loud rattling noise with a clump of special, hollow quills. This porcupine also raises quills on its back that can be up to 20 inches (50 cm) long and are boldly striped in black and white. As a last resort, it will run sideways or backward to jab its quills into its foe. 44 AnimAl deFenses A young lion tries to ? ip over an African crested porcupine in order to kill it in South Africa, where porcupines are the principal diet of Kalahari lions.Hedgehogs are also prickly. A European hedgehog has about 5,000 short, sharp spines. Unlike a porcupine’s quills, hedgehog spines do not come out of the skin when used for jabbing. A he dgehog usually flees or hides in the face of danger. If it is cornered, it raises its spines and then rolls into a ball, protecting its soft belly and its head. A hedgehog can stay rolled up for many hours, and a predator is likely to give up prodding the unresponsive, prickly ball. An uncurled hedgehog, however, may leap backward into a predator or thrust its spiny body into its face. Spines also protect spiny anteaters called echidnas.Echidnas are Australian monotremes (egg-laying mammals) that eat Animal Armor 45 insects, snaring them with their long, sticky tongues. Hundreds of spines cover an echidna’s body. A spine can be about 2 inches (60 mm) long. If threatened, an echidna digs quickly into the ground, leaving only its spiny back showing. It can also roll up into a ball or wedge itself into a crevice among rocks. ARMORED ON THE INSIDE some animals have spikes that come into play only when they are attacked. Among these unusual animals is a mammal called the potto. th e potto is a slow-moving, tree-dwelling African animal. hree bones in its neck end in thick spines that stick up through the skin. the spines usually are buried in its thick fur. however, if threatened, a potto curls up so that its neck bends and the spines stick up. some scientists have recently found that the spines are sensitive to touch and that pottos sometimes rub necks with each other. they are researching to see if pottos use their spines to communicate with one another. A salamander called the sharp-ribbed newt also has hidden spines. its spines are the ends of its ribs. if attacked, the newt pushes its ribs so that they form rows of bumps on its back. here are poison glands on the bumps. the sharp rib tips may also poke out of the newt’s skin. the hero shrew of west Africa does not show its strength; its armor is completely hidden inside. this armor is its oneof-a-kind backbone. each bone in its spine has ridges on it and ? ts snugly into the bones on either side of it. the spine is also very ? exible, and the ribs attached to it are very thick. A person weighing 160 pounds (2 kilograms) can stand on the shrew’s back without harming it. why the shrew’s back is so strong is still a mystery, though its strength may certainly stop some predators’ jaws from crushing it. 6 AnimAl deFenses The army of spiny mammals includes the spiny rats of Central and South America. Some species of spiny rats have sturdy spines, while others have stiff, bristly hair. Spiny rats can also shed their tails to escape a predator’s grip. Another group of spiny mammals, the tenrecs, is found on Madagascar, an island off the east coast of Africa. A tenrec can roll up into a ball like a hedgehog. It also has a powerful bite and will butt its enemy in the neck with its spiny head. shells A sturdy shell is the primary defense for a variety of very slowmoving animals, such as turtles, tortoises, snails, and clams.Turtles and tortoises are reptiles with bodies enclosed in shells. Turtles spend much or all of their lives in water, while tortoises live on land. Both have shells made of two parts: an upper section called the carapace and a lower section called the plastron. The shell is basically a sturdy box made of bone. The inside of the carapace is made of bones fused together. These bones include the turtle’s spine and ribs. The plastron is made of bone, too. In most species, the outside of the carapace is covered with plates made of a tough material called keratin—the same substance that forms hooves and fingernails.These plates are called scutes. Some turtles have just a few scutes embedded in a thick skin on the carapace. Some have none at all. Many turtles can pull their heads, tails, and legs partly or fully into their shells. Box turtles have hinged plastrons, so they can close the openings in their shells. Desert tortoises fold their thick, scaly legs in front of their withdrawn heads to form a shield. A turtle can stay inside its shell for hours, waiting for a predator to give up. It will stay tucked in while a predator sniffs it or rolls it around. Animal Armor 4For slow-moving animals like the snail, a shell is a primary defense. This snail is resting on a leaf, but it can quickly disappear inside its shell if it senses a threat. Snails, clams, mussels, and other mollusks also are protected by shells. The soft, boneless body of a mollusk is covered with a kind of skin called a mantle. In the mantle are glands that produce the materials that form the shell. These materials include minerals that the mollusk gets from its food and from the water, sand, or soil in which it lives. A snail seems to carry its shell on its back, but much of its body is actually inside the shell.If threatened, the snail pulls its head and its muscular foot inside the shell. Many kinds of snails seal the shell’s opening with a hard plate on the end of the foot. Sea snails called limpets have feet that work like suction cups and help them grip rocks firmly so that they are difficult to pry off. 48 AnimAl deFenses INSECT ARMOR most insects’ tough exoskeletons protect their bodies from predators and from drying out. however, some insects—including young insects, such as caterpillars—have soft bodies. they bene? t by adding an extra layer of protective armor. cale insects, for example, are named for the armor they produce. A young scale insect ? nds a spot on a plant where it can feed. then its body oozes substances that form a shield over it. the insect lives underneath this shield. different kinds of scale insects make different kinds of shields. Armored scale insects make hard, waxy shields. soft scale insects make softer waxy coverings, or shields that look like balls of cotton. ground pearls, which are related to scale insects, make round, waxy covers that look like beads. caterpillars of some moths make a sticky, bumpy covering for their bodies.Ants t hat bite these caterpillars end up with jaws full of goo. the ants’ bodies and legs also become coated with the sli