Most animals find their homes in secluded places, caves in trees, underground or in burrows. Some of them occupy other people's housing. But birds, ants, bees and other representatives of the fauna build their nests, hives or colonies for rest, for breeding and raising offspring. There are animals that are incredibly careful about the process of construction and home improvement, like real architects. We offer an overview of the best architects of the animal kingdom and their impeccable structures.

There are other animals on planet Earth that deserve to be on the list of the most talented architects. For example, beavers are excellent dam builders who are able to block a riverbed and create a pond for themselves. The beaver is warm and safe in its home of branches and mud. Ants are excellent builders, capable of quickly constructing housing for their colonies underground. Gophers are talented in building burrows with a system of passages that create entire cities on several hundred hectares of land, where hundreds of individuals live. Bees are excellent craftsmen in the construction of wax honeycombs for storing honey and raising offspring. Cunning spiders with a secret door, which is attached to silk threads and instantly opens, are also capable of building a whole system of tunnels.

10. Common weaver

The bird lives in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. Common weavers build their communal nests from twigs and grass on trees or other objects such as telephone poles. Their nests are considered the largest among those built by birds; they can accommodate several generations and hundreds of pairs of birds. Nests are considered communal, since one large one consists of many individual nests. It is very warm in the center of the structure, where the birds gather at night, and in the outer nests the temperature during the day is 7-80C, while outside it is 16-330C. Externally, the structure resembles a haystack; the entrance to the nests is located at the bottom of the structure.

9. Tailor Ants/Leaf Roller Spider

Everyone knows that ants live in colonies in an anthill on the ground or tree, like the European red ant. The weaver ant in Central Africa and Southeast Asia builds nests from living leaves, which are attached to each other with silk threads. An entire colony lives in such a cocoon. The design is waterproof. The leaf-wing spider from Australia has a very similar home. The only difference is that the spider uses a leaf that is already dead, rolls it up and lines it with silk threads. The leaf is located in the center of the web.

8. Bowerbird from the Chendravasih Peninsula

The bowerbird lives on the Chendrawasih Peninsula in Indonesia. When building a nest, the male uses grass and twigs. He builds it in the form of a hut on the ground to attract a potential female to start a family. Building a hut is not the male’s ultimate goal. He also designs the interior and surrounding area, decorating everything with berries, flowers, bugs and other colorful objects to make it more attractive. The female visits the nest, assesses the situation and the level of responsibility of the male, and decides to start a family.

7. Termites

Termites in wildlife northern regions Australia demonstrate unsurpassed architectural talent, constructing termite mounds up to 10m high from mud, recycled clay, saliva and excrement. These structures are equipped with tunnels, a sophisticated air conditioning system and are located from north to south for proper temperature regulation. Their buildings occupy acres of land. In addition, there is mold in which they breed their offspring.

Spiders are known to spin webs, but some have gone even further, such as the leaf spinner or individual species spiders of Texas and Canada that weave webs several hectares in size. But the spider, who has a secret door in his house, surpassed everyone. He lives underground in a hole that he digs himself. Using soil, vegetation and silken threads, he constructs a door for his burrow. It can open and close, and the spider can ambush its victim with lightning speed. When the door is closed, it is well camouflaged.

5. Indian weaver / Oropendula-Montezuma

The Indian weaver lives in India and southeast Asia. The bird is known for building elegant hanging nests. But these houses are not unusual.

Far from these sites in the Caribbean, another bird, the Oropendula Montezuma, builds similar hanging nests of grass and vines for a colony of 30 individuals. They build nests on tall trees in the forest, in plantations or on plantations, which distinguishes them from Indian weavers, who place their nests on thorny trees above the water.

4. Paper wasp

While most wasps do not build nests and prefer to hoard other people's property, paper wasps construct an elegant home from chewed plants, wood or stems, which are held together with resin, saliva and silky threads. Some species use mud. The nest has honeycombs with cells, just like bees in a hive. Outside, the honeycombs are in a cocoon made of a kind of paper. The nest is attached to a tree branch by the leg. Wasps spread a special smell around the nest, which scares away ants who are not averse to stealing eggs. The nest is built in a secluded place.

3. Red Ovenbird / Swallows

The Warbler or Red Ovenbird uses mud or dung to build bowls on upper parts crowns of trees, pillars, where the finished nest is dried in the sun. The result is a durable home and place to raise offspring. The nest is not subject to wind and is suitable for habitation in any weather. Many species of swallows also use mud and saliva to build nests. They build their nests in colonies near human habitation. Nest size is associated with the number of eggs laid by swallow species.

2. Sfecida

Sphecida builds its elegant nests in the shape of a cylindrical pipe, similar to pipes of an organ or panflute, from mud and vomit on the bases of bridges, walls, rocks and other surfaces. The wasp's nest is simple in shape, in the form of an amphora, then the nests are connected together with mud. In the nest of the sfecida there are many cells not for placing eggs, but for “prisoners”, for example, spiders, so that they cannot escape; the sfecida paralyzes them. Then its larvae eat the prey.

1. May fly

The Mayfly is an underwater architect of its own kind. In the larval state, the fly moves with difficulty in streams, ponds and other fresh water bodies, where it lives in sand, underwater plants, and wherever it can hide. The fly attaches everything it finds to its cocoon with the help of silky threads produced by its glands. In such a camouflaged shelter, the larva grows, feeds and breathes. She places “nets” around herself to catch prey.
If the animal cannot take care of itself, then the person arranges for it

“Animals 3rd grade” - Snail. Donkey. Zoology is the science of animals. Insects. Amphibians. Beavers. Animals. Physical exercise. Red Book. Animals. Representatives of which group do you see? Reptiles. Fish. Piglet. Giraffe. Natural history lesson “Animal diversity”. Birds. Owl. Wolf. Sparrow. Crossword. Annotation. Lesson objectives:

“Animals 2nd grade” - What happens in nature if some kind of animal disappears? Animals. Wild domestic ones. Insects. Variety of animals. Pets. With the help of gills, fish breathe oxygen dissolved in water. Fish. Cow. Wild animals. Why do we need pets? Reptiles. Animals whose bodies are covered with feathers.

“Animals 1st grade” - Parrot. Bumblebee. Fox. Pike. Cat and dog. Panda. Turkey. Butterfly. Ladybug. Rhinoceros beetle. Sheep. Mosquito. Hare. Rooster. Crucian carp. Cow. Bear. Rabbit. Horse. Tiger. Wolf. Owl. Grasshopper. Dragonfly. Duck. Raccoon. Goat. Swan. Fly. Perch. Bee. Squirrel.

“Groups of animals” - Horny scales. Describe each group of animals and give your own examples. Snakes, lizards, and turtles belong to the group... How do fish differ from other animals? What groups of animals do you already know? They swim under the bridge and wag their tail. Guess a riddle. Amphibians. Fish. Animals can be grouped by the number of legs and body cover.

“Fundamentals of the constitutional system” - Legislative bodies. Legal status personality in the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The Russian Federation is a federal legal state with a republican form of government. President of the Russian Federation. Organ structure state power in the Russian Federation. Chairman (appointed by the President with the consent of the State Duma) Deputy Chairman Federal Ministers (appointed by the President on the proposal of the Chairman).

“Dwellings of the Nations of the World” - Yoshkar-Ola yesterday and today. Our town. Stone Age dwelling. Russian hut. Dwellings of the peoples of the north. Sign of a skyscraper: a load-bearing steel frame and the presence of elevators. Houses on stilts. Skyscraper. Construction of the hut. The first skyscraper was built in Chicago in 1885 and had 11 floors. Japanese huts. Low doors and narrow windows protected from the cold.

Thanks to architectural buildings, man has changed the appearance of the Earth. In the animal world, too, at every step we meet builders whose work inspires admiration.
Wonderful weavers. Most spiders spin webs. Convenient location helped spiders develop weaving abilities arachnoid glands in the abdomen, where there is enough space for them, it can turn into a real “web factory”. The cross spider secretes a thin sticky silky fiber from its web warts. He first attaches the end of the fiber to the branch, then pulls it horizontally to another branch, where he attaches the other end. Thus, a structure known as a “web” is formed.
Termites. Talented builders in the animal kingdom. The structures of these “architects” are pillars made of hardened clay, which often reach five meters in height. Typically, they are reinforced by branches or tunnel systems that branch into many corridors. Termites are used to build their towers various materials, mainly pure clay or clay mixed with pieces of wood on which they feed. The walls of these structures can be up to fifty centimeters thick, and their hardness is often not inferior even to stone. Some species of termites use animal stool for construction. Termites place their chambers deep underground. They have a wide variety of purposes. In some chambers young animals grow up, while others are adapted for " mushroom gardens". Termites in their "skyscrapers" build multi-story residential areas connected by numerous "bridges" and spiral passages. Many different animals build nests or burrows for themselves. Most of these buildings are practically invisible and reliably hidden among the bushes. However, there are also truly "large "architects" whose creations capture our imagination. In the world of spiders, insects, birds and mammals, famous architects meet.
SHELLFISH. Even invertebrates are capable of creating complex structures. Many species of snails and all bivalves have hard shells, often very unusual shape, which protect their soft bodies. Special glands are responsible for the formation of shells in mollusks. By the way, roundworms in cats are treated efficiently and quickly.
The shells of many types of mollusks are real works of art. One of the most beautiful shells is the nautilus shell. It is formed by curls divided into chambers. The closer to the head, the larger the chamber of the mollusk. These chambers contain gas, thanks to which the mollusk regulates its level of immersion in water. The body of the nautilus is in the last chamber. In the process of growth, the nautilus must create all the capacious chambers of its “house”.

MAMMALS

A small mouse builds a nest in tall grass or in a field, which can be mistaken for a bird's nest - it is almost no different from the latter. The baby mouse attaches grass leaves to the stems of grass, and thus creates a spherical structure in which it raises its offspring. Many mammals dig underground burrows, most often consisting of a straight corridor and a chamber located at the end of the tunnel. The Mole builds a house with a complex system of tunnels, a sleeping room and storage rooms. American prairie dogs They dig long holes, both ends of which are on the same mound. Thanks to this, fresh air can circulate freely throughout the “building”. Beavers are one of the most famous builders. With their long and sharp teeth they "cut" small trees that form the base of the dam. In the center of the formed dam, beavers build their huts. The entrance holes in them are located under water.
BIRDS
Some birds, such as the kingfisher, bee-eater and sand martin, dig their burrows in steep sandy cliffs. Characteristic feature These burrows are deep nesting chambers, in which individual pairs or entire groups of birds then settle. It is known that most birds build nests. Some nests have very complex structures. African weavers from different parts plants weave large covered hanging baskets, which they carefully attach to the branch with stems.
INSECTS. Many mollusks create shells for life to protect their bodies, while some insects use shelters only for a short time. In clear streams, caddisfly larvae can be found under stones. Some of them build cases from spider threads, to which grains of sand, small pebbles, twigs or leaves are added. The buildings of social insect species - ants, wasps, bees and termites - provide shelter to thousands of individuals. Some ants sew their houses together from leaves, so their structures partly resemble tents. Worker ants first attract the edges of leaves growing nearby to each other, and then sew them together. The thread is the same silk fiber.

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Animal builders

Many animals build durable burrows where they eat, sleep, hide from enemies, raise their young, and also hide from the piercing cold or sultry heat. Some of the animals build homes in the water. Others “weave” hanging nests close to neighboring ones, settle in hundreds and lead a social lifestyle. There are animals that build high ground dwellings, inside of which there are passages and chambers of various sizes, and life there proceeds as in a well-organized state.

Stitched nest

Tailor ants living in tropical and sub-tropical tropical forests, build nests from leaves rolled into tubes. To do this, some of them connect the ends of two leaves with jaws and paws, others “sew” them together. The threads for this are provided by ant larvae, each of which contains a sticky substance. The ants lightly press on the larvae, and glue comes out of them, as if from tubes. This does not harm the larvae in any way, and they continue to develop normally.

Beaver House

Beavers used to be very common in Europe, Asia and North America. They are now protected by law because huge numbers of them have been exterminated for their fine fur and the musk they produce, which is used in the perfume industry. The beaver is one of the heaviest rodents, it can weigh up to 30 kg. The beaver is an excellent swimmer, it has webbed swimming on its hind legs and a very strong tail, which it uses as a rudder. Beavers eat fresh bark and young shoots of trees, which they cut down with their long incisors. In the fall, beavers make provisions for the winter and store them near their home. For their houses, beavers bring branches, bushes and tree trunks from the nearest forest to the river; they use grass, stones and silt as fastening materials. The cone-shaped hut that beavers build has a ventilation hole at the top and can be up to 1.8 m high. The entrance to the hut is always located under water. If the water is very low, beavers build a dam and turn part of the river into a reservoir, where they can swim and dive. In addition, the dam serves to protect the beaver’s home from attacks by enemies. Beaver dams last quite a long time. Some were built by previous generations. The record among such dams is the beaver family dam in Montana - its length is 685 m.

Hanging Cities

In the savannas of southwestern Africa live social weavers - small birds, but great builders. They place their public nests, which can be up to 5 m in diameter, on tree branches or on telegraph poles. On the underside of this huge nest there are more than 100 holes, each of which leads to a separate small “apartment” for the bird couple, in whose privacy the neighbors do not interfere.

termite mound

To survive, dry savannah termites in Africa need to be housed constant temperature. Therefore, when building their huge, durable home, they must take care of good ventilation and thermoregulation in the labyrinth of numerous chambers and galleries. The size of the termite mound is impressive in itself, but its internal organization. The passages in the walls play the role of an air conditioner: warm air rises up, gives off heat and falls down.
The nests of termites living in tropical rain forests are equipped with “umbrellas” that prevent water from getting inside. The African savanna is dotted with termite mounds, built from particles of red clay glued together with saliva. These “pipe” houses reach 9 m in height.

In the state of termites, roles are assigned from birth. The queen's only concern is laying eggs. Millions of worker termites provide food and keep the “palace” clean and tidy. The termite queen, who occupies a special chamber in the depths of the termite mound, is the largest individual in the colony. The king who mates with her, the workers who feed her, and the soldiers who protect her are much smaller. The queen is a long-lived insect; she can live for decades.

mobile home

The cephalopod nautilus (ship) lives in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Its house is a mother-of-pearl spiral shell divided into a large number of cameras The diameter of the shell can reach 25 cm. The nautilus lives in the outermost chamber, the others are filled with air and connected to the mollusk by a tube. The air pressure in the chambers is regulated by glands and allows the nautilus to float or submerge.

Any child knows that every beaver is an excellent builder! These representatives of the animal world build such amazing and perfect dams from fallen trees that an experienced engineer and talented hydraulic engineer could envy such structures! Why do beavers build dams?

The vastness of our planet is home to a huge number of animals leading both semi-aquatic and aquatic lifestyles. In the CIS, one of the funniest and most attention-grabbing aquatic inhabitants is the beaver., because literally his whole life is connected with water. Most often beavers live:

• in lakes;
• in streams;
• in rivers.

A large flat tail and webbed hind paws allow the beaver to move quickly, easily and freely through the water, and with the help of long, strong incisors it the animal manages not only to gnaw incredibly thick branches, but even to fell huge trees, which at first glance is simply impossible to do! One more amazing feature The beaver's adaptation for life in water is the isolation of its incisors from the rest of the oral cavity. This allows the beaver to chew on branches and trees underwater, eliminating the possibility of choking.

Beaver habitats are divided into two types:

• burrows;
• “huts” (animals build them exclusively in places where digging holes is impossible - on marshy soil, shallows or low banks).

Why do beavers build dams? Reasons for construction and features of structures

So, why do beavers build dams using branches, sticks, as well as stones, silt and clay? Firstly, these hardworking animals have a task - change the direction of water flow in order to subsequently flood certain places and form a kind of pond, where the beaver will later build his house, which is also called a “hut”. Secondly, by constructing a kind of artificial ponds with the help of dams, beavers create the most favorable conditions for the appearance of thickets and marsh vegetation in the creeks. Thus, plantations of lush greenery become an additional help in the diet of animals.

The standard size of a “hut” is 20–30 meters long, 4–6 meters wide and 1–2 meters high. At the same time, North American beavers hold the record for the length of their huge hydraulic structures. Especially large dams are located in the least densely populated areas, where the virginity of nature is not disturbed by human activity.

According to scientific observers, dams of incredible size periodically appear in American nature reserves. The length of one of these dams is 230 meters and the width is 70 meters, however, a structure was soon discovered large sizes, the length of which is more than a kilometer. Presumably, the construction of such a dam took at least several decades, and several generations of beavers were involved in the construction.

Beavers begin building a dam by gnawing at the base of a tree. When large trees fall and form the base of the dam; animals use smaller trees for further construction, strengthening the dam with branches, stones and clay. Dams built by beavers are usually so strong that they can easily support the weight of a large animal., for example, horses.

What is a beaver's hut? What does it look like and why build it?

After the dam is built, the beavers begin building their future home. “Huts” are real engineering structures made of soil and tree branches of different sizes, which from the outside remind a person of an ordinary pile of brushwood. Such houses look like an inverted bowl, consisting of two spaces separated from each other. One such room is filled with small rubble, it serves as a home for a whole family of animals, while the second, near the exit, is a storage room for tree branches and shoots (the food supplies of these animals).

Usually the house of the beaver family protrudes above the water surface by 1–3 meters, but the entrance to it is always under water, where even in very severe frosts the water does not freeze. Moreover, during construction, intelligent animals strictly control the size of the entrance and arrange the approach to the house so that only beavers can get into it. At the top of the “hut” there is a small hole through which light and fresh air enter the beaver’s home. In beaver “huts” animals store food supplies, sleep, and raise beaver cubs. The cozy and warm home of beavers also helps them protect themselves from enemies and wait out the cold seasons.

Beavers not only carefully plan the construction of the dam, but also closely monitor this structure. If any damage occurs, the animals immediately begin repairing their home, since the safety of the entire family depends on it.