What kind of home do you live in? Is it a house or an apartment building? Architects design different kinds of buildings for people to live and work in that reflect what the building will be used for. Some animals are architects too! They create amazing structures to live and sometimes work in. If you look around, you might see some of these structures in your own neighborhood!
Beavers
Beavers use tree branches and sticks to build dams in rivers and streams that will create small ponds for them to build their homes in. Those dams can be 10 feet high and 1,600 feet long! The homes beavers build are called lodges, and their entryways are underwater.
Termites
Termites in Africa and Australia create huge mounds out of soil mixed with their saliva and animal dung. Some termite mounds can reach as high as 20 feet! Termites live in the mounds in colonies with a king, a queen, and millions of other termites.
Weaver Birds
Weaver birds are songbirds that live in Africa and Asia. These birds craft their nests by weaving grass, leaves, and other plant materials around tree branches. A sociable weaver is a type of weaver bird in southwestern Africa that creates nests with other sociable weavers to make huge bird-nest neighborhoods that can grow to at least 10 feet high!
Labyrinth Spiders
Labyrinth spiders spin webs that provide not only a place to live, but a built-in food pantry! Labyrinth spiders are found in Europe. Their thick webs are spun near the ground or in bushes and are so thick that they look like white clouds. Labyrinth spiders create an array of tunnels in their webs that lead to the egg sac. What a cool spider maze!
Bees
Bees create some of the most incredible homes on the planet. A beehive is a group of hexagon-shaped cells, or holes, made of honeycomb and propolis. Propolis is collected by bees from the buds of poplar and cone-bearing trees. An average beehive can house up to 50,000 bees!
The Greatest Home
It’s amazing how God made all of these animals into awesome architects. But the greatest home of all is the home Jesus is preparing for us in heaven!
“My Father’s house has many rooms,” Jesus said; “if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:2-3).
About the Author
Christin Baker is a full-time stay-at-home mom who also writes for Faith Alive. She is a member of Resurrection Fellowship Church in Grand Rapids, Mich.
