Spiders have lots and lots of type, so how many type do you know? Come and check our five awesome arachnids facts for kids.
Arachnids are spiders, harvestmen, mites and ticks. You may confuse these animals with insects but arachnids do not have antennas. All arachnids have eight legs and they do not have wings. Scientists have identified over 90,000 different species of arachnid.
They can be found throughout the world, however most are found on land. Most scorpions live in tropical regions while many spiders are found in northern areas. Ticks and mites live in soil or on plants, but some live on or in animals. You may have heard that your dog has a tick before?
There are hundreds of thousands of species of arachnids. Arachnids are predators on insects and other invertebrates. The exceptions are many mites, who feed on all sorts of things, such as fungus, plants, dead animals and bacteria.
Most arachnids eat smaller arthropods. Arachnids do not have jaws, so they must break down their food by tearing it into small pieces. They break down these pieces that have digestive fluids to allow them to be easier to digest. Instead of eating they simply such up these digestive fluids.
Like all arthropods, arachnids have segmented bodies, a hard outer covering called an exoskeleton, and jointed limbs. In most arachnids, three pairs of the limbs are their six legs to walk on. The other limbs are used for tasks such as holding and crushing prey.
Sometimes small arachnids like mites have the two sections fused close together so you can’t see the separation. If you see a spider and you are brave enough to look closely, see if you can see its segmented body and eight legs.
Arachnids lay eggs in order to reproduce. Many arachnids use silk to help protect their eggs. Smaller versions of adult arachnids hatch from these eggs.
Baby arachnids begin to look more like their parents as they grow. However, some arachnids, such as mites, change a lot in different stages of their lives. A mite goes through four stages of growth. These are egg, larva, nymph, and adult. They look quite different in these four stages.
The most important feature for most arachnids are their fine sensory hairs that cover their body. These hairs give arachnids their sense of touch. It allows them to sense if there is prey nearby which is essential for their survival. As small creatures they have many prey and obstacles.
We hope you enjoyed learning more things about arachnids as much as we loved teaching you about them. Now that you know how majestic the universe is, you can move on to learn about other living organisms and STEM articles like: Viruses, Cells, Trees, Marshes, Aquatic Plants, Insects, Animals, Palm Trees, Science Branches, Medicine, Patient Animals, Endangered Animals, Polar Animals, Koalas, Land Animals, Sharks, Raccoons, Moon and Sun Bears, Rats, Chickens, Cats, Pandas, Monkeys, endangered animals, waterfowl, Whales, Farm Pets, PH Scale, Chemical Reactions, Atoms, Acids and Bases, Electromagnetic Waves and States of Matter.
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