Rowan Hooper, news editor
INSECTS
make up 75 per cent of all known animal species. That's about 900,000
of them, with at least 3 million yet to be identified. It's a vast
subject area, but veteran entomologist Gilbert Waldbauer brings it to
life by exploring insect warfare - the strategies these creatures
employ to protect themselves from predators.
There are times when How Not to Be Eaten
feels like one long list of examples, but on the whole this is a rich
and detailed book that roams across time and space. Waldbauer cites the
work of Victorian naturalists alongside recent studies - examples
include the way tiger moths generate ultrasonic sounds to repel hunting
bats just as butterflies display don't-eat-me colours.
The
book describes insects from all over the world, interspersed with
anecdotes from Waldbauer's own field trips. Some of my favourites
include the spider in South America that catches moths by swinging a
bolus of sticky glue on the end of a silk thread - humans are the only
other species to use a similar weapon. Then there are the burrowing
owls in southern Florida that hunt beetles by scattering lumps of
cattle dung as bait. Or the Burnet moth, common in Europe, which
secretes deadly hydrogen cyanide stored in its exoskeleton.
Chemical warfare, camouflage, ambush. Sun Tzu could have learned a lot from insects when he wrote The Art of War.
http://www.newscientist.com/
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