Summary
A millipede can't run or bite, so it defends itself with chemistry -- oozing bad-tasting, even glowing goo from tiny pores. Deep Look shows how one clever beetle has found a way around those defenses.
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All ages
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Talk about it
A millipede releases defensive chemicals from a row of pores along its body when threatened. The bad taste and smell keep most predators away -- a structure-and-chemistry defense for a slow, soft-bodied animal.
- How does a slow millipede protect itself without running or biting?
- Why is a bad taste or smell a good defense?
- What might happen to a predator that ignores the warning?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: defense, chemical, pore, survive.
Try it: Sort foods into 'yummy' and 'yucky.' Write how tasting bad keeps a millipede from being eaten.