Extremely Gross Animals: Stinky, Slimy and Strange Animal Adaptations
Welcome to the Wild World of Gross Some animals are cute and cuddly such as puppies and kittens and others are fierce and majestic such as lions and polar bears Some animals are ugly some are scary and some are dangerous But the animals in this book They’re just plain gross These animals wallow in snot or cover themselves with vomit They spit and fart and spew They gobble up poop or feed it to their babies They turn other animals into zombie slaves Some even abandon pieces of their own bodies to escape predators Blech
In this book we look at the grossest of the gross animals that can disgust even the most loyal animal lover And we’ll see how those habits as revolting as they might seem are actually amazing survival skills In fact in nature it’s often survival of the grossest
Gross or Not-So-Gross An animal that eats poop known as feces in more polite company doesn’t consider it icky or disgusting Nor does an animal that willingly covers itself in snot So why are we humans grossed out by it In part it’s because we’re taught to be From the time we’re babies we’re told that some things are gross and disgusting And it’s a good lesson to learn since babies put everything they can reach into their mouths including things that can make them sick But our sense of what is gross isn’t entirely learned For example to us humans poop and vomit smell awful So do moldy fruit and rotting meat The smell of these things can make us feel queasy or dizzy which are physical responses so we avoid them And avoiding them is generally a good idea since all those things can make us sick In fact this useful sense of disgust might well have developed over millions of years of evolution because it helped keep humans alive But what disgusts us doesn’t necessarily disgust the animals in this book Many of these animals actually survive on revolting substances and thrive on gross habits Once you take a closer look what’s revolting and gross is often pretty fascinating You might even find the disgusting creatures in this book a bit less revolting once you get to know them So hold your nose and dive right in
Yuck One Person’s ICK Is Another Person’s Treasure Not everyone agrees on what’s icky In fact what grosses you out can depend on what you are used to For example how do you feel about eating insects At least a quarter of the people in the world happily chow down on bugs In Thailand you can buy spiced roasted grasshoppers at street food stalls For many Indigenous Australians witchetty grubs basically caterpillars picked fresh off the bush are a treat And in North America cricket protein powder is sold in grocery stores
