The insect which makes a meal of your skin

A dust mite. A large part of house dust is made up of tiny flakes of human skin. The house dust mite loves to eat this. And as it likes to live in warm, damp conditions, it makes its home in beds, pillows and mattresses which can also provide plenty of skin for it to feast on.

We cannot see the dust mite which lives in large numbers all over the house. Most people are not affected by dust mites, however, some do develop allergies and react to their bites.

Would you believe that tiny mites live even in the sockets of our eyes? Do not worry about it because they do no harm .In fact they may even help to keep our skin clean.

What the Nazca plain is famous for

The Nazca plain which is very dry and flat with no sand to cover the plain and little rain or wind, is famous for its drawings. It is situated in Peru, South America. The strange lines in the desert scratched on the ground are still a mystery. There are about 300 designs of animals, birds, fish and insects that can be seen clearly on the desert from the air. Some of these drawings, are more than two football fields long.

These mysterious drawings are believed to have been work of Nazca Indians who lived in the area between 300 BC and AD 800.

Since the Nazca lines were discovered many scientists have tried to study their meaning but none have yet come up with an acceptable explanation.

A scientist named Maria Reiche who spent over 50 years studying the numerous lines and drawings had said "We will never know all the answers." The biggest picture of the smallest bird in the world, the humming bird is found here. Some of the other drawings found here are the killer whale, pelican, monkey, tree, hands, astronaut, lizard, star and flower.

How cold blooded creatures cope with heat

Snakes, lizards and many other reptiles live in deserts.

Reptiles are cold blooded creatures. Their body temperature is not controlled by a thermostat in their body like ours is. It is controlled by their surroundings. Throughout the day they change their to position regulate their temperature so they can stay active.

A desert lizard basks in the sun to warm up. When the sun blazes down at midday, it moves into the shade to cool off. It sunbathes again in the evening, so its body stays warm at night.

What the Barringer Crater is

The Barringer Crater is a massive hole in the Arizona Desert in the USA. It is nearly 1.5 kilometres (one mile) wide and 200 metres deep. Its rim is made of smashed rock from inside the crater and rises 50 metres above the plain. Some lumps of rock are the size of houses. Its other name is Meteor Crater, which tells us how it got there

Why honeypot ants take other insects prisoner

Honeypot ants live in a colony. Most kinds feed on nectar they gather from flowers but some get their food from an amazing source. They capture aphids or cochineal insects and keep them captive in their nests. The ants stroke their prisoners with their antennae (feelers), to make the insects produce honeydew, a sweet liquid for the colony to drink.

Honeypot ants were first documented in 1881 by Henry C. McCook.Many insects, notably honey bees and some wasps, collect and store liquid for use at a later date. However, these insects store their food within their nest or in combs. Honey ants are unique in using their own bodies as living storage, but they have more functions than just storing food.

Some store liquids, body fat, and water from insect prey brought to them by worker ants. They can later serve as a food source for their fellow ants when food is otherwise scarce. When the liquid stored inside a honeypot ant is needed, the worker ants stroke the antennae of the honeypot ant, causing the honeypot ant to regurgitate the stored liquid.

In certain places such as the Australian Outback, honeypot ants are eaten by Aboriginal people as sweets and are considered a delicacy.

Some worker ants turn into honeypots right from their emergence from pupa stage. The young ants stay in the nest, and the worker ants who collect honey feed them. As they feed more honey than they need, the surplus honey gets stored in their abdomen. As their abdomen expand, the ants lose their mobility.