Spider Webs
All over the world, in plains and forest, in gardens and pastures, in homes and alleys, an oft repeated miracle takes place every summer day. This event is the construction of millions of spider’s webs. What? Miraculous? Let us not reject the thought without examination: Let us scrutinize some of these marvelously engineered lacy filigrees […]
How Birds Fly
Probably man has always envied the birds for their ability to fly. Throughout our history, man has been the earth-bound plodder, watching birds swoop and soar overhead. The ancient Greek legend of Icarus, who supposedly fastened feathers to his arms with wax, recalls our long frustration. According to the legend, Icarus was enabled to fly […]
Pigeons
Today we have a puzzle for you: What is it that drinks its mother’s milk, is able to find its way home across hundreds of miles of trackless waste, and is universally known as a symbol of peace? If you guessed the pigeon family of birds, you answered correctly. Actually there is no single species […]
Hummingbirds
Suppose you were given the responsibility of designing the ultimate flying machine: It must be capable of flying backward as well as forward, and be able to fly straight up or straight down with equal facility. It must also be able to hover motionlessly in mid-air. Such an assignment would be quite a task, wouldn’t […]
Paper-Making Wasps
Paper is a wonderful product of a thousand uses, but where did it come from? How was it invented, and by whom? Well, people who investigate that sort of thing credit the Chineese with the invention of paper, about the beginning of the Second Century A.D.1 But we must share with you that the Chinese […]
Bees
“Busy as a bee” is a way we may describe someone who is always on the go, always hurrying about his appointed duties. And that certainly is the way bees are, for they seem to display almost ceaseless expenditures of energy. In fact, the workers do literally wear themselves out at their work. During the […]
Monarch Butterflies
Birds which migrate vast distances each year have long been a marvel to interested observers – but even more marvelous is a migrating butterfly: Danaus plexippus, commonly called the Monarch butterfly. Monarchs travel up to 3,000 miles every autumn, to gather by the millions in a small forest in central Mexico, coming from most areas […]
Worker Bees
The worker bee is a dedicated servant of the hive. Throughout its short life – only 4 or 5 weeks in the busy seasons – it gives of itself incessantly and unselfishly. Indeed, if necessary it will literally pour out its life in defending the hive against intrusions of man or animal. The bee’s stinger […]
Locusts
We are what we are. We are male of female, short or tall, and there is nothing we can do about it. We are the product, physically, of the combination of the genes of our parents, and their parents before them. But which of us has not at some time wished we could be smarter, […]
The Dance of the Bees
Imagine at this moment that you are a honey bee. As a bee, you have been out in the far meadows, foraging for blossoms rich in nectar. Now you have found a fine field of blooms, just begging to be harvested. You quickly fill yourself with the sweet nectar and hurry back to your hive. […]