Get to know the most incredible refuges created by small animal species. These incredible innate architects teach us that we have a lot to create with if we know where to look and dare to imagine it.
Weaves in height: the “Beaver Weaver”
This species has rounded beaks that allow them to extract the central veins of the leaves as a first step to build their nests. Then, with one of their legs, they hold the end against a branch while they weave with their beak. The first thing they build is the entrance, which is usually oriented downwards, followed by the walls, which they build from the inside out. To finish, they cross the fibers with each other to give a safer finish and reinforce the fabric in general, which, despite its fragile appearance, is totally resistant.
This is how the nest of the “Baya Weavers” looks finished, which in general tend to hang from palm trees and thorny acacias or above bodies of water, to protect themselves from predators.
In addition to being an example of dexterity, this species also provides a teaching of companionship because they often build their shelter for the entire community.
A true love nest: garden birds
The males of this bird species that inhabits the forests of New Guinea and Australia, build their shelters by decorating the entrance with flowers, feathers, small stones and any striking element that the bird chooses. Some even use the waste materials thrown by men, such as soda caps.
For these birds, the nest is an incredible tool of seduction: they use it during the mating season to attract females. Time during which the males tend to steal items from each other to decorate their nests in the most attractive way possible.
Once completed, the Garden Birds’ nest can reach up to 150 cm high and 200 cm thick. There, the male waits for the female of her species, who will choose the best architect to surprise her.
Building trees: the Republican Weaver
For these birds that inhabit various countries in Africa, sewing is one of their means of survival. Observing one of these birds creating its refuge is a spectacle of skill and precision. Its constructions are among the largest structures created by birds, as some can reach more than 5 meters wide. Their nests are built in trees or tall objects and have the ability to protect them from external temperatures.
What stands out most about these birds is their sense of community: their nests can accommodate the entire community and are built as a team using both their beaks and their legs. In addition, their shelters may occasionally be used by various other species as a base to build their own home.
One of the curiosities of this species is their hanging nests that they build using streetlights. In a way they create the image of artificial trees with the most amazing shapes.
This is the view from below of a nest built by Weaver Birds, capable of housing many generations of these species. It can weigh more than 1 ton!
weaving ants
Once again, ants are the best example of perseverance and work that nature can give us. This Australian species is characterized by building its own nests with the leaves they collect. How do they manage to do it? Weaving! At the same time that they take a leaf with their heads and unite it with another with their legs, the other ants bite a larva and turn it into silk threads to join the leaves together.
The colonies of these ants can be made up of more than 100 nests that go through trees and can reach a large size.
When building their nests, their elongated body is an advantage because each ant clings with its legs and jaw to the edges of the adjacent leaf; but if their bodies are not enough, the ants act as a team: they gather and form a chain. Spectacular!
A nest you never imagined: caddisflies larvae
The aquatic larvae of these insects build amazing shelters that also have the function of camouflaging them to protect them from predators. These “cases” are tube-shaped and made of silk to which sand, algae, roots, stems, stones, among other small elements, adhere.
These colorful “cases” also facilitate their breathing, since through the undulating movements of their body, the larva creates hydrogen peroxide on top of its body. In addition, they can be used to obtain food.