adhere OR attach
31. Pigments provide strength: fungi
"Melanin pigmentation of rock-inhabiting fungi confers extra-mechanical strength to the hyphae that are then better able to grow into crevices (Dornieden et al., 1997; Sterflinger and Krumbein, 1997)." (Gorbushina 2007:1619)
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32. Attachments cling to intestinal wall: pork tapeworm
"A typical species, such as the pork tapeworm (Taenia solium), consists of an anterior region known as the scolex, armed with suckers and sometimes hooks, too, for attachment to its host's internal intestinal wall…" (Shuker 2001:166)
33. Mucus glues sand and rock: marine worms
"The colonies built by Sabellaria worms on seashore rocks look like very untidy honeycombs. The worms construct tubes of sand grains stuck together with mucus."This surface of a colony of Sabellaria tubeworms (above and left) looks like an untidy ...
34. Leaves glued together: grass trees
"This country [southwestern Australia] is also one of the headquarters of the grass tree…It is neither a grass nor is it a tree. It is a distant relative of the lilies. But it does have very long narrow leaves that resemble grass, and they ...
35. Adhesive works under water: an aquatic bacterium
"'It's three to four times stronger than superglue,' says Indiana University bacteriologist Yves Brun. Its strong enough, he adds, that a quarter-size patch could conceivably suspend a 5-ton elephant. In quantitative terms, the sticking power of t...
36. Suckers allow fine attachment: octopus
"William Kier of the University of North Carolina is studying the rows of muscular suckers along the arms and tentacles of octopi. Octopus suckers' tiny projections called denticles are 3-micrometer-diameter pegs that provide more intimate contact...
37. Squeezing larvae provides glue: weaver ants
"Another insect tool user is the weaver ant (Oecophylla smaragdina), which makes nests by rolling up leaves and then gluing the sides together with silk. Although it is the adult ants that do this, only the larvae produce silk, so how is the proce...
38. Modified leaves assist climb: passion flower
"Vetches and passion flowers have modified some of their leaves even more extremely and converted them into tendrils. These grope around in space until they touch the stem of another and swiftly coil around it." (Attenborough 1995:161-162)
39. Feather parts reattach: birds
"A central shaft carries on either side a hundred or so filaments; each filament is similarly fringed with about a hundred smaller filaments or barbules. In downy feathers, this structure produces a soft, air-trapping fluffiness and, therefore, su...
40. Eggs glued to leaves: coddling moth
"A European moth that is a serious pest in orchards, lays its eggs in spirals glued together around the twigs of fruit trees. When they hatch, the young caterpillars, while sustaining themselves by eating the leaves immediately around them, spin a...
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