Nature Is Stranger Than Fiction

NATURE IS STRANGER THAN FICTION by John Y. Beaty Illustrated by H. G. Rose GEORGE G. HARRAP & CO. LTD LONDON TORONTO BOMBAY SYDNEY This book is qffectionately dedicated to my wife ANNA E. BEATY w.ho has not onfy encouraged me to make long trips into the tropics, the mountains, the forests, the deserts, the plains, and the· oceans in search of fascinating nature truths, but has entered into those expeditions with enthusiasm and hao aided my work tremendousfy both at home and on the many thousands of miles we have travelled together First puli/ishul 1943 6- Co. LTl:: 182 High Holborn, London, W.e.l by GEORGE G. HARRAP Reprinted 1945 Copyright. All rights t'cserve BOOK ~ PRODUCTION I WAR ECONOMY I STANDARD THIS BOOK IS PRODUCED IN COMPLETE CONFORMITY WITH THE AUTHORIZED ECONOMY STANDARDS Mad~ in Great Britain Composed in B"s/cerville tyP6 "nd printed by Mo"ison 6- Gibb, Limited, London and /!.'di"b .. ,gh INTRODUCTION We all enjoy learning strange and unusual facts. ' best place to find these is in nature. Nature is only stranger than fiction, but there is no end to number and variety of strange facts to be learned at insects, animals, birds, plants, fish, spiders, and geol, I t is easier to remember an astonishing thing t something prosaic. Other facts about an animal wI can walk without either a head or a body are rea recalled because the strange part fixes the whole in minds. When we learn that this same animal liter jumps out of its skeleton five times in its life and gr another skeleton, we know that it is an animal wm of study. We grow to respect nature when we learn of a that fights its way upstream for one thousand II without any food; of an insect which uses twentyinstruments; of a bird which can fly among tree! the dark without making a sound; of one that; five hundred miles alone over a strange ocean using than a gramme of fuel; of an ocean bird which 1: on fish but cannot swim and would drown if it she light on the water; of a spider which easily mz itself invisible; of plants which live under water at very brink of the Niagara Falls; of a plant wh comes to life after being dead for five years; or of t which eats one hundred and fifty thousand animab one meal. We are fired with ambition to study nature when learn of a fly with beautiful eyes; of an animal t sits on its head and kicks food into its mouth; another that eats only once a year; of animals t [3] never drink; of a fish that cannot swim; of an animal that sleeps seven months each year; of a bird that travels twenty-five thousand miles every year to get more sunshine; of an animal that eats four times its own weight daily; of a father fish that carries fiftyfive baby fish in his mouth until they can care for . themselves; and of worms twelve feet long. It is indeed a strange and fascinating world and most of us know little about it. It is to help and encourage those who wish to learn some of the most vital and astonishing things that this book has been written. Every fact on these pages has been carefully authenticated. N one of them is based on opinion. No person who continues to study nature can be lonesome, tired of life, bored with himself, waste much time in loafing-or ever be very unhappy. There is a very full index at the end of the book. ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE 7 ADULT ANT WEAVING WITH LARVA PTEROPHRYNE II VENUS'S FLY-TRAP 20 YELLOW WARBLER WITH NEW NEST ABOVE THE OLD ONE 25 28 THE SPIDER CAN WALK ON THE STICKY THREADS 35 37 HYDROIDS (MUCH ENLARGED) THESE' PEACOCKS' LIVE IN SHALLOW WATER THE WINGSPREAD OF THE ALBATROSS IS OFTEN OVER THE HERMIT CRAB APPROPRIATES A SNAIL'S SHEL