Butt tails and rumps
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About this ebook
BUTTS TAILS AND RUMPS
translated by Jarek Westermark
narrated by Sean Palmer
illustrations by Maria Mroux Bulikowska
Discover the fascinated mysteries of animals’ butts! Is a hippopotamus hiding a helicopter on its rear side? Or a penguin – a cannon? Why is baboon’s ass red, and why does a tapeworm have no ass at all? Why do dogs keep sniffing one another, and why wouldn’t cats ever stop licking their fur? And why does the roe flash its white rump? This book contains thirty exciting and funny stories of butts, tails and rumps narrated by a science promoter and a biologist in one.
Mikołaj Golachowski – PhD in Animal Ecology and Zoology, traveller, translator and polar explorer. When he’s not busy in the midst of Antarctic snow and ice, he lives in Warsaw and writes about animals and protecting the environment. Author of educational and popular science books.
Maria Mroux Bulikowska – illustrator working with children’s and adult books and magazines. Author of two books on Warsaw dialect.
Table of contents:
01 INTRODUCTION
02 THE BOMBARDIER BEETLE
03 THE HIPPO
04 THE HERRING
05 THE POLAR BEAR
06 THE PENGUIN
07 THE WOMBAT
08 THE DOG
09 THE CAT
10 THE PARAMECIUM
11 THE WEAVER
12 THE MAYFLY
13 THE DUCK
14 THE PEACOCK
15 THE ORCA
16 THE LIZARD
17 THE KANGAROO
18 THE WASP
19 THE SPIDER
20 THE SEAHORSE
21 THE FROG
22 THE ROE
23 THE LYNX
24 THE SCORPION
25 THE EARWIG
26 THE TAPEWORM
27 THE SNAKE
28 THE SKUNK
29 THE BABOON
30 THE SPIDER MONKEY
31 THE FIREFLY
Mikołaj Golachowski - Butts, tails and rumps
translated by Jarek Westermark
narrated by Sean Palmer
illustrations by Maria Mroux Bulikowska
ISBN 978-83-67356-19-0 (audiobook)
Wydawnictwo Babaryba
www.babaryba.pl
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Butt tails and rumps - Mikolaj Golachowski
Every animal has at least two ends. Up front: a snout, beak, or chelicera. And in the rear… a butt! And it’s the butt that is often more fascinating than the critter’s snout. We all have a butt of course, but we sometimes forget to pay it the attention it deserves.
Now is the time to change that!
There are more butts in heaven and earth, than are dreamt of in our philosophy. For who could dream up the armoured butt of an Australian wombat? Or the alchemical workshop that the bombardier beetle carries in its behind? And if we throw various fancy tails into the mix, we’ll see that nature chose the animal butt as a hiding place for many fascinating secrets and phenomena!
So let’s get to know animals… from the bum forwards.
THE BOMBARDIER
BEETLE
Explosive farts
Releasing pungent gasses from the butt is nothing special – anyone can do it! But some animals have achieved true Olympic greatness in this field. Among insects, an indisputable master is definitely the bombardier beetle. Its polish name translates to cannoneer, which is fitting, because it uses its butt as a cannon (or bombard!) to fire away at its foes.
The beetle is a real life magician and it houses a secret lab in its butt (or thorax, as an insect’s behind is called). This lab consists of a couple of chambers separated by tough walls. Each chamber is really tiny, seeing as our beetle is just a centimetre long, and one of them stores two different liquids.
When the bombardier is approached by an enemy such as a frog, spider, or swarm of ants, the two liquids stream to another chamber. There they are mixed with a third which acts as an igniter. This second chamber, protected by thick walls, ends with two tubes positioned on both sides of the insect’s bottom.
The beetle points its thorax towards the enemy and unleashes a series of salvoes aimed straight at its nose! The foe gets sprayed with a corrosive fluid that’s almost as hot as boiling water! If he survives this by some miracle, he will most certainly learn his lesson and never bother the bombardier again.
The beetle itself – also a predator, we might add – isn’t bothered at all by its own cannonade. Although its butt facilitates an actual explosion, the thick walls of the blast chamber guarantee its safety. Once the foe is dealt with, it can start looking for tiny creatures to feed on, enjoying the peace and quiet.
THE HIPPO
A butt-helicopter
Everyone has a butt, but not everyone’s butt has a small fan attached to it! The hippo – considered one of Africa’s most dangerous animals – can boast just that.
This giant denizen of the mother continent has a short, chunky tail which can be quickly thrashed around. Though it doesn’t actually spin like a propeller, but rather swings from side to side in a pendular movement, the hippo shakes it so rapidly that it looks like it’s about to achieve lift-off.
The hippo always starts waging