10 World of Insects

World Book's Learning Ladders World of Insects

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What is an insect? There are over 1 million kinds of insects in the world. They are found on land and in the fresh water of lakes and rivers. But they cannot live in salty oceans. An insect has three main body parts: a head, a thorax, and an abdomen. All insects have six legs, and many have wings. Insects can be as large as a football or as small as the period at the end of this sentence. The insect shown here is an ant. It's a fact! A tiny flea can jump 100 times its own height. That would be like you leaping over an office building! This is the abdomen. It swells up when the insect eats. The tough cover on an insect's body protects its soft insides.

An insect's head has eyes and antennae, as well as mouth parts for eating. The middle-part of an insect's body is called the thorax. The legs are attached there. Most insects have two long antennae. They are used mainly for feeling and smelling. Spiders are not insects. A spider has eight legs instead of six, and its body is made up of two parts, not three.

Ant Lift up a stone or a log, and you will probably see tiny ants scurrying around. There are many different kinds of ants. Most live together in large groups called colonies. Ants work hard as a team, building nests, collecting food, and fighting enemies. This is a leaf-cutter ant. It lives on the damp floor of the rain forest. This worker is using its strong jaws to cut a leaf.

Hooked claws help the ant cling to slippery branches as it marches home. A leaf-cutter ant carries a piece of leaf back to its underground nest. The leaf will be turned into food. These weaver ants are building a nest. The ants glue leaves together with a silklike material that they spin from their bodies. It's a fact! Some ants are very strong. They can lift objects up to 30 times heavier than themselves. That's like you lifting up a small car!