Description

From termite mounds and caterpillar cocoons to the elaborate nests of social birds and the deadly traps of spiders, the constructions of the animal world can amaze and at times even rival our own feats of engineering. But how do creatures with such small brains build these complex structures? What drives them to do it?
In this fascinating volume, Mike Hansell looks at the extraordinary structures that animals build--whether homes, traps, or courtship displays--and reveals what science can tell us about this incredible behavior. We look at wasp's nests, leaf-cutting ants, caddis flies and amoebae, and even the extraordinary bower bird, who seduces his mate with a decorated pile of twigs, baubles, feathers, and berries. We discover how some animals produce their own building materials, such as the silk secreted by spiders to weave an array of different web and traps, or the glue some insects produce to hold their buildings together. And we learn how a vast colony of social insects can create nests which may penetrate up to twenty feet into the ground and house millions of individuals--all built by tiny-brained animals repeating many simple actions as they roam randomly around the structure. Hansell also sheds light on how animal buildings have evolved over time, how insect societies emerged, how animals can alter their wider habitat, and even whether some animals have an aesthetic sense. Finally, he shows how animal structures may reveal clues to the origins of our own tool use and appreciation of beauty.
Built by Animals offers a colorful account of a facet of animal behavior that will delight anyone interested in the natural world.

Features

• Shows the amazing constructions that are built throughout the animal world, by social insects, birds and mammals, and even minute amoebae.
• Reveals the behavior--both innate and learned--that creates these structures, and the materials and techniques that different animals use.
• Highlights how creatures with small brains use simple, repeated actions to produce complex results--achieving building feats that rival our own, but by very different means. In fact it is human building behavior that turns out to be unusual.
• Ties in animal behavior, evolutionary biology, and ecology, and highlights the lively research currently happening in this area of biology.
• Shows how animal structures may reveal clues to the origins of our own tool use and appreciation of beauty.
• Reveals how animals interact with each other and with the environment, and puts human habitat alteration into an evolutionary perspective.

Reviews

"The book is a fascinating read, with personal anecdotes and reflections blending into thought-provoking explorations of the various themes."--J. Scott Turner, American Scientist

"When...does a giant golden digger wasp stop digging its burrow and start excavating the terminal chamber? Is it when she feels she has done enough work, or when the burrow is long enough? Hansell, an evolutionary biologist specialising in animal architecture, knows the answers and can tell a good story. Great stuff."--ew Scientist

"This methodical book discusses some of the intriguing scientific investigations that have been made into animal engineering."--Publishers Weekly

"It is to the eternal credit and pride of humanity that scientists like Mike Hansell strive with insight and ingenuity to catalogue the wonders of the natural world and to convey their findings in such enthusiastic fashion to the rest of us blinkered anthropocentrics."--Discover

"Unusual and fascinating"--Publishing News

"This fascinating assemblage of the world's animal architects will fill a niche in all collections."--ooklist

"The book is a fascinating read, with personal anecdotes and reflections blending into thought-provoking explorations of the various themes."--American Scientist

"Recommended for general readers: lower-division undergraduates through graduate students." -- J. Burger, Choice

"Covering the who, what, and why of animal construction, Hansell reveals the blueprint of structures that can rival human architectures."--Science News

"Anyone with an interest in animal behavior will like this book."--Birdbooker Report

Product Details

256 pages; 25 halftones & line illus.; 5-1/4 x 8-1/2; ISBN13: 978-0-19-920556-1ISBN10: 0-19-920556-6

About the Author(s)