--- title: Animal builders: termite mounds, weaver birds and other nest makers — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Animal builders: termite mounds, weaver birds and other nest makers», a lesson of the biology course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: In Africa, termites a few millimetres long build mounds taller than a grown man out of soil, spit and --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/) / Animal builders: termite mounds, weave… # Animal builders: termite mounds, weaver birds and other nest makers Lesson 243 of the biology course of Mova's primary school: 16 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers/). - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers/1/) — In Africa, termites a few millimetres long build mounds taller than a grown man out of soil, spit and droppings; for a termite that is like people building a tower kilometres high. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers/2/) — The termites do not live at the top: they live in the nest below, and the mound works like a pair of lungs and an air conditioner, letting stale air out and fresh air in. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers/3/) — Birds are builders too: a weaver bird ties real knots in grass, a swallow sticks hundreds of beakfuls of mud under your roof, and a bowerbird builds a stage just to show off. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers/4/) — Each building solves a problem: keeping cool, keeping eggs away from snakes, or winning a mate. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers/5/) — Some African termite mounds are several metres high, built by insects only a few millimetres long from soil, spit and droppings, with chimneys and tunnels for air. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers/6/) — The termites live in the nest underground; air moves through the mound as the day warms and cools, and the Eastgate Centre in Zimbabwe was designed with cooling ideas from termite mounds. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers/7/) — Magnetic termites in Australia build thin, flat mounds pointing north and south: the wide sides catch the weak morning and evening sun, and the thin edge faces the hot midday sun. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers/8/) — Many termites grow fungus gardens on chewed wood and plants inside the mound, and the fungus helps to break down the wood; a termite queen can be as big as a finger and lay thousands of eggs a day. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers/9/) — Male weaver birds weave hanging nests from grass strips, tying knots with beak and feet; nests at the tips of thin branches are hard for snakes and monkeys to reach, and if the female does not like a nest the male pulls it down and starts again. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers/10/) — Sociable weavers in the Kalahari build giant shared nests like haystacks in trees, with many rooms and over 100 birds; the thick straw keeps them cool by day and warm on freezing desert nights, and a nest can last over 100 years. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers/11/) — Swallows and house martins build cup nests from mud mixed with spit, and a house martin nest takes about 1,000 mud pellets. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers/12/) — Male bowerbirds in Australia build a bower of sticks, which is not a nest but a stage to impress females, and some decorate it with blue flowers, berries and bottle tops. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers/13/) — The tailorbird pokes holes in leaves and pulls plant fibres or spider silk through them to sew a leaf cup round its nest. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers/14/) — Some swiftlets build nests almost entirely from their own hardened spit, and people collect them for bird's nest soup, an expensive food in China; the nests are costly because they must be collected carefully from cave walls so the birds can still breed. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers/15/) — The Australian malleefowl lays its eggs in a huge heap of leaves and sand that warms up as it rots; the father tests the heat with his beak and adds or removes sand, and the chicks dig out alone. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/243-animal-builders-termite-mounds-weaver-birds-and-other-nest-makers/16/) — Real woodpeckers drill holes to nest and to find insects, and drum on wood to call; their skull is built to soften the blows, and they can hit wood about 20 times a second. - ← previous: [Animal builders: beavers, dams and lodges](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/242-animal-builders-beavers-dams-and-lodges/) - next →: [Animal builders: spiders' webs and silk](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/244-animal-builders-spiders-webs-and-silk/) - ↑ back to [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/)