Strange creatureS by Seymour Simon illustrated by Pamela Carroll
Introduction SOME TINY BIRDS BUILD NESTS THAT ARE as big as haystacks One kind of fish can live enclosed in a block of mud without food or water for as long as four years There are small mammals that eat their own weight in food every three hours Without food they would starve to death in a day There are over one million different kinds of animals living on the earth today Some of these such as dogs and cats you may see every day Others you may see in zoos or on farms But many others are not familiar to most people This book is about some of the strange animals that live all over the world In this book you will find animals that look strange at least to our eyes that behave in odd ways that have strange powers or abilities Sometimes scientists know how an animal’s strange appearance or behavior helps it to survive But other times scientists cannot explain the reasons for an animal’s looks or the way it acts No one book can cover all the strange animals of the world But this book tells you about some of the very strangest
NOT ALL VAMPIRES ARE MYTHS LIKE Count Dracula Some vampires are only too real The vampire bat lives from Mexico south into Central and South America It lives only on blood The vampire bat is a very scary-looking animal Like all bats the vampire is a mammal Its body is covered with short gray or brown hair Its body is just about three inches long and it has a wingspread of about one foot The bat has razor-sharp front teeth It uses its teeth to make a slit in the skin of its victim Then it laps up the blood that comes out of the wound The cut is made so skillfully that the victim may not even wake up from its sleep Vampire bats attack their victims only at night The bats often feed on cattle horses and other domestic animals Less often vampire bats will also attack people While the wound heals quickly repeated feedings on the same animal can make it weak and ill Even more serious are the diseases that can be passed on by the bat Among the worst of the diseases is rabies which often results in the death of the victim Vampire bats live in colonies of about one dozen or more animals During the daylight hours the bats roost in cracks and crevices in the walls of caves If disturbed the bats can run along the walls with surprising speed When its wings are folded the bat walks like a four-footed animal or hops like a frog
