Which animal builds the tallest houses? The most amazing builders and architects in the animal kingdom

It's not just people who think about how to decorate their homes. And if you think that birds and insects are absolutely indifferent to where they live, you are very mistaken. Today Life #Home will show the most beautiful and unusual houses, built by animals, and will also tell you which of the “architectural innovations” of our little brothers have been used by humans.

Common social weaver

The miniature bird is called a “social” weaver because it lives in large colonies - from a hundred individuals or more. As a rule, these birds live in South Africa and are able to build houses that look like large haystacks, up to 8 meters in height.

Despite the outward carelessness, it is difficult to be inside such a “stack”: all the nests are structured in a special way, and their number can reach up to 300. In addition, a pair of birds live in each of them along with their offspring.

IN common house"social" weavers maintain a constant microclimate, and all entrances are protected from predators by special transverse sticks.

Architect Ruslan Kirnichansky drew a “construction” parallel between people and birds:

“The weaver builds cell-apartments, just like people build social housing, but if you look from a different point of view, the weaver chooses a safe place for construction - above ground level, in order to prevent predators from getting to their offspring. Even in ancient times, people took this method for armament and built fortresses and settlements on highlands (hills) in order to be able to see the approach of enemies earlier and ensure defense.”

Termites

Termites live in colonies of several million individuals, and those grandiose mounds up to 6 meters high that we can see in Africa or Latin America, in fact, only the outer, above-ground part of the dwelling of such a colony.

Termites build their homes from their own saliva and shredded wood, forming a quickly hardening mixture. The inside of the termite mound is incredibly complex: it contains many separate interconnected chambers for eggs and young larvae, worker individuals and soldier individuals (termites have a complex caste system), as well as its own ventilation system that maintains a constant microclimate inside the termite mound.

Termites demonstrated to people the possibility of organizing powerful natural exhaust. In addition to passage channels, termites build air shafts that allow air to circulate freely. At the same time, insects create their own microclimate for some rooms.

This principle has helped people in the construction of mining mines and in the organization of tunnels. Termite “products” are also used in subway construction, where frequent replacement of exhaust air is necessary.”

Red Ovenbird

A small bird that lives in Latin America carries about 5 kilograms of clay during nest construction. Red-haired ovenbirds live in pairs and also choose a place to build a future nest together.

Red-haired stove builders resemble newlyweds who have decided to start building their home. To do this, they choose a site together and begin to build it together.”

Beavers

Beavers rarely live alone, usually in a family of five to eight individuals, with children continuing to live with their parents until they are two years old.

Beavers are true natural architects: they build fantastic structures that water cannot budge. Beaver skills were useful in the construction of dams and hydroelectric power stations."

Paper wasps

This type of insect got its name because it builds nests that look very much like paper pots. Moreover, paper wasps are capable of constructing multi-level buildings surrounded by a special shell that protects the offspring from rain and cold.

entrance" for the wasp itself.

Architect Ruslan Kirnichansky says that nomads may have been inspired by the types of hives when designing their yurts:

“Paper wasps demonstrate the possibility of building housing from scrap materials. So, if you turn over a wasp’s nest, it resembles the yurts and huts that nomads set up in the steppes, because this form of construction provides the best protection from the wind.”

Red-eared Whistler

Males of red-eared whistlers (as well as of another similar species - satin bowers) cannot sing beautifully and do not have beautiful plumage. Therefore, in order to attract a female to mating season, they build beautiful hut houses. Moreover, these huts have nothing to do with nests, but are used only during the mating period, while the female incubates the eggs in a nest in a tree.

house" with various colored objects. Than more beautiful house, the greater the chance of getting the female’s attention. Especially attracted to "feathered girls" Blue colour, so males try to bring as many objects of this shade as possible to their house: from plastic lids to ballpoint pens.

Architect Ruslan Kirnichansky believes that people learned many skills in construction from these birds:

“The skills of the red-eared whistler are aimed at attracting attention and conveying impressions to the female, who, having seen a strange design, falls under the charm of an unsightly male. This technique can be attributed to large developers who build residential complexes of dubious quality, but attractive appearance and, having captured the attention of buyers, sell they have their own apartments."

Coral reefs

Corals (or more precisely, colonies coral polyps), unlike all the previous “houses” on our list, no one is building it, and what we see when we scuba dive into the Red Sea is a “skeleton” left after the death of many living polyps.

home" for many tropical species fish and mammals.

Architect Ruslan Kirnichansky believes that even ancient cities were built according to the principle of organizing coral reefs:

“Corals are an example of laconic self-organization of the environment. In an empty but favorable place for living, a settlement is formed, which begins to grow and eventually turns into a huge city. All ancient cities were built on this principle.”

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Animal builders

Many animals build durable burrows where they eat, sleep, hide from enemies, raise their young, and also hide from the piercing cold or sultry heat. Some of the animals build homes in the water. Others “weave” hanging nests close to neighboring ones, settle in hundreds and lead a social lifestyle. There are animals that build high ground dwellings, inside of which there are passages and chambers of various sizes, and life there proceeds as in a well-organized state.

Stitched nest

Tailor ants living in tropical and sub tropical forests, build nests from leaves rolled into tubes. To do this, some of them connect the ends of two leaves with jaws and paws, others “sew” them together. The threads for this are provided by ant larvae, each of which contains a sticky substance. The ants lightly press on the larvae, and glue comes out of them, as if from tubes. This does not harm the larvae in any way, and they continue to develop normally.

Beaver House

Beavers used to be very common in Europe, Asia and North America. They are now protected by law because huge numbers of them have been exterminated for their fine fur and the musk they produce, which is used in the perfume industry. The beaver is one of the heaviest rodents, it can weigh up to 30 kg. The beaver is an excellent swimmer, it has webbed swimming on its hind legs and a very strong tail, which it uses as a rudder. Beavers eat fresh bark and young shoots of trees, which they cut down with their long incisors. In the fall, beavers make provisions for the winter and store them near their home. For their houses, beavers bring branches, bushes and tree trunks from the nearest forest to the river; they use grass, stones and silt as fastening materials. The cone-shaped hut that beavers build has a ventilation hole at the top and can be up to 1.8 m high. The entrance to the hut is always located under water. If the water is very low, beavers build a dam and turn part of the river into a reservoir, where they can swim and dive. In addition, the dam serves to protect the beaver’s home from attacks by enemies. Beaver dams last quite a long time. Some were built by previous generations. The record among such dams is the beaver family dam in Montana - its length is 685 m.

Hanging Cities

In the savannas southwest africa There live social weavers - small birds, but great builders. They place their public nests, which can be up to 5 m in diameter, on tree branches or on telegraph poles. On the underside of this huge nest there are more than 100 holes, each of which leads to a separate small “apartment” for the bird couple, in whose privacy the neighbors do not interfere.

termite mound

To live, termites of the dry savannah of Africa need to maintain a constant temperature in their home. Therefore, when building their huge, durable home, they must take care of good ventilation and thermoregulation in the labyrinth of numerous chambers and galleries. The size of the termite mound is impressive in itself, but its internal structure is also surprising. The passages in the walls play the role of an air conditioner: warm air rises, gives off heat and falls down.
The nests of termites living in tropical rain forests are equipped with “umbrellas” that prevent water from getting inside. The African savanna is dotted with termite mounds, built from particles of red clay glued together with saliva. These houses with a “pipe” reach 9 m in height.

In the state of termites, roles are assigned from birth. The queen's only concern is laying eggs. Millions of worker termites provide food and keep the “palace” clean and tidy. The termite queen, who occupies a special chamber in the depths of the termite mound, is the largest individual in the colony. The king who mates with her, the workers who feed her, and the soldiers who protect her are much smaller. The queen is a long-lived insect; she can live for decades.

mobile home

The cephalopod nautilus (ship) lives in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Its house is a mother-of-pearl spiral shell divided into a large number of cameras The diameter of the shell can reach 25 cm. The nautilus lives in the outermost chamber, the others are filled with air and connected to the mollusk by a tube. The air pressure in the chambers is regulated by glands and allows the nautilus to float or submerge.

Some animals just need a warm and safe place to live, while others want to live like kings. These 13 creatures are the best architects in the animal kingdom.

Animals are very careful about the construction of their home, be it a nest, a hive or a dam (in the case of beavers), they choose only the best materials. Without cranes, cement or iron, these little animals create truly amazing structures, causing you and me envy and respect.

Common social weaver

Common social weavers live in the territories South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. They create these huge nests that can house hundreds of birds for generations. Nests made of sticks and grass are built to last and also retain heat well.

Australian tailor ant

These ants live in Central Africa and Southeast Asia. They glue the leaves together using larval silk.

Red-eared Whistler

The males of these birds build small huts out of grass and sticks to attract females for mating. Like real designers, they decorate their homes with berries, insects and other bright elements. Oddly enough, females do not use these houses to raise their offspring.

Termites

Termites build their nests in the shape of large wedge-shaped mounds. The buildings are always oriented north to south, which allows them to regulate the temperature inside.

Bees

The entire life of honeybees revolves around their hive. They build their dwellings from wax, make honey in them and raise their offspring.

European forest ant

They build anthills in the form of large mounds on a grass substrate. Several mounds can be connected to each other, allowing the colony to escape in case of danger.

Red Ovenbird

The red-headed ovenbird builds its nest from clay and mud. Their nests protect them from predators and are generally a very safe place.

Weaver baya

The bahia weaver builds its nest in trees above bodies of water where predators cannot reach.

Wasp

Beavers

Beavers build strong dams and dams that allow them to survive cold weather, shelter from predators, and hunt. Their dams can be really large, the largest was found in national park Wood Buffalo in Canada, and it was 850 meters in length.

Oropendola-Montezuma

The Oropendola Montezuma builds its nests on thin vines and grass. They usually live in colonies of 30 birds, each with only one dominant male.

Martin

Some swallows can live in the same nest for several years in a row, only making light cosmetic repairs to it. They make nests from various materials, including saliva, clay and grass. The nests of some swallows are edible and considered a delicacy.

Caddisfly

When the time comes for a caddisfly to create a chrysalis, it literally grabs everything onto itself. Sand, shells, pebbles and stones, mixed with its silk, turn into a safe cocoon.

Incredible facts

Do you think that the most beautiful ancient and modern architectural monuments were created by people?

So you haven't seen underground ant colonies that stretch further than the Great Wall of China, or termite mounds that are almost twice as tall as the world's tallest skyscraper.

Here are the most impressive animal architects and builders and the most astounding architectural structures in the animal kingdom.

Towering Termites: Massive Movers of the Earth

Termites are amazing creatures by any indicator. Queens are 30 times larger than workers and soldiers and produce about 30 eggs per minute to keep the colony alive.

Termites are also capable of building some of the largest structures in the animal kingdom.

Thus, 10-centimeter creatures can build towers that weigh hundreds of tons, which reach up to 7.5 m in height and 12 meters in diameter.

And these are just the buildings above ground. They are also known to dig burrows up to 70 m underground.

Ordinary social weavers: architects of bird apartments

The so-called common social weavers are among the friendliest birds in the sky. They join forces and take on entire trees to create a structure that can be called an amazing apartment.

Instead of building individual nests, the birds join up to 300 pairs and build huge nests up to 7.5 m wide, 1.5 m high, with a separate room for each pair.

A huge apartment complex helps birds stay warm in winter and cool in summer, and collaboration ensures the excellent condition of the “apartments” throughout the year.

Common social weavers also share their home with other birds, falcons and finches.

Naked mole rat: amazing underground diggers

These indefatigable diggers have a unique social organization among mammals, just like mass-organized creatures such as ants, wasps, bees and termites, only they are much larger and more terrible in appearance. On top of that, they are essentially cold-blooded and do not feel pain at all.

Almost all of these strange creatures live together in one underground environment habitat, which they dig with their disproportionately large teeth, located in front of the lips, and not behind them, which prevents the ingestion of dirt.

Naked mole rats live up to 28 years, and their colonies feed on tubers that weigh a thousand times more than one naked mole rat.

Ants: super-strong underground diggers

The largest ant colony discovered to date stretches 6,437 km across Europe.

This supercolony is thought to number about a billion ants. Each of us knows that ants are amazing builders who are capable of carrying several times their own weight, but few people have been able to see their amazing underground structures.

Thus, excavations of one of the ant colonies in South-East Asia led to the opening of a complex that surpassed our wildest imagination.

When they dug a colony measuring 46 square meters and 7.6 meters deep, they discovered many transit tunnels, incoming and outgoing ventilation branches, mushroom gardens and waste pits.

Caddis flies: unique underwater builders

Unlike other animal architecture, caddisflies and their structures are not massive mega-structures. On the contrary, caddis flies create miniature architecture, but they do it with particular artistry and versatility.

The larval forms of these underwater architects use whatever materials are available, from sand to shells, sticks and debris, to build themselves a mobile shell that protects them and provides natural camouflage as they grow.

Eventually, they grow stingers and float to the surface, where they shed their unique architectural creations, spread their wings, and fly away.

Beavers: bestengineers

Beavers are able to build dams using their strong teeth to gnaw through the bark.

These dams protect them from predators such as wolves and allow them to create ponds deep enough where they can build their homes.

Their houses, called huts, have an entrance underwater where predators cannot enter.

The longest dam in the world, built by beavers, lasted more than a decade and is 853 meters long.

At least two families of beavers worked to build this record-breaking structure.

Spiders: the biggest web builders

As a rule, spiders fight for their territory and prey, preferring to eat their enemies and build independent, solitary webs.

However, there are also giant webs built by thousands of spiders who worked together to build a web that stretches 180m.

The construction of webs in groups is unusual behavior, but scientists believe that the abundance of edible insects that appear after heavy rains, led to spiders choosing cooperation over conflict.

Any child knows that every beaver is an excellent builder! These representatives of the animal world build such amazing and perfect dams from fallen trees that an experienced engineer and talented hydraulic engineer could envy such structures! Why do beavers build dams?

The vastness of our planet is home to a huge number of animals that are both semi-aquatic and water image life. In the CIS, one of the funniest and most attention-grabbing aquatic inhabitants is the beaver., because literally his whole life is connected with water. Most often beavers live:

• in lakes;
• in streams;
• in rivers.

A large flat tail and webbed hind paws allow the beaver to move quickly, easily and freely through the water, and with the help of long, strong incisors it the animal manages not only to gnaw incredibly thick branches, but even to fell huge trees, which at first glance is simply impossible to do! One more amazing feature The beaver's adaptation for life in water is the isolation of its incisors from the rest of the oral cavity. This allows the beaver to chew on branches and trees underwater, eliminating the possibility of choking.

Beaver habitats are divided into two types:

• burrows;
• “huts” (animals build them exclusively in places where digging holes is impossible - on marshy soil, shallows or low banks).

Why do beavers build dams? Reasons for construction and features of structures

So, why do beavers build dams using branches, sticks, as well as stones, silt and clay? Firstly, these hardworking animals have a task - change the direction of water flow in order to subsequently flood certain places and form a kind of pond, where the beaver will later build his house, which is also called a “hut”. Secondly, by constructing a kind of artificial ponds using dams, beavers create the most favorable conditions for the appearance of thickets and marsh vegetation in creeks. Thus, plantations of lush greenery become an additional help in the diet of animals.

The standard size of a “hut” is 20–30 meters long, 4–6 meters wide and 1–2 meters high. At the same time, North American beavers hold the record for the length of their huge hydraulic structures. Especially large dams are located in the least densely populated areas, where the virginity of nature is not disturbed by human activity.

According to scientific observers, dams of incredible size periodically appear in American nature reserves. The length of one of these dams is 230 meters and the width is 70 meters, however, a structure was soon discovered large sizes, the length of which is more than a kilometer. Presumably, the construction of such a dam took at least several decades, and several generations of beavers were involved in the construction.

Beavers begin building a dam by gnawing at the base of a tree. When large trees fall and form the base of the dam; animals use smaller trees for further construction, strengthening the dam with branches, stones and clay. Dams built by beavers are usually so strong that they can easily support the weight of a large animal., for example, horses.

What is a beaver's hut? What does it look like and why build it?

After the dam is built, the beavers begin building their future home. “Huts” are real engineering structures made from soil and tree branches different sizes, from the outside, reminding a person of an ordinary pile of brushwood. Such houses look like an inverted bowl, consisting of two spaces separated from each other. One such room is filled with small rubble and serves as a home. the whole family animals, while the second, near the exit, is a pantry for tree branches and shoots (food supplies of these animals).

Usually the house of the beaver family protrudes above the water surface by 1–3 meters, but the entrance to it is always under water, where even in very severe frosts the water does not freeze. Moreover, during construction, intelligent animals strictly control the size of the entrance and arrange the approach to the house so that only beavers can get into it. In the upper part of the “hut” there is a small hole through which light and Fresh air. In beaver “huts” animals store food supplies, sleep, and raise beaver cubs. The cozy and warm home of beavers also helps them protect themselves from enemies and wait out the cold seasons.

Beavers not only carefully plan the construction of the dam, but also closely monitor this structure. If any damage occurs, the animals immediately begin to repair their home, since the safety of the entire family depends on it.