Snipfact:

  American crocodile (southern USA, Mexico, Central and South America) 5 m (16.4 ft) Slender-snouted crocodile (West Africa) 2.5 m (8.2 ft) Orinoco crocodile (northern South America) 6 m (19.7 ft) Australian freshwater crocodile (Australia) 2.5–3 m (8.2–9.8 ft) Philippine crocodile (Philippines) 3 m (9.8 ft) Morelet’s crocodile (Centrel America) 3 m (9.8 ft) Nile crocodile (Africa) 5 m (16.4 ft) New Guinea crocodile (New Guinea) 3.5 m (11.5 ft)

  The crocodile family contains 23 species, including alligators, caimans and gavials. All are large reptiles with long bodies and short legs. most crocodiles have wider, U-shaped snouts. The gavial has long slender jaws – just right for catching fish. In alligators and caimans the teeth of the lower jaw fit into pits in the upper jaw and cannot be seen when the mouth is closed. In crocodiles the fourth tooth on each side of the lower jaw firs into a notch on the upper jaw, so they are always visible. Crocodiles are generally bigger and more aggressive than alligators.

  The coastal taipan of Australia injects the most venom per bite with 120 mg (0.004 oz). Just 1 mg (0.00004 oz) would be enough to kill a person. The common krait’s venom is even more dangerous – only 0.5 mg (0.00002 oz) can be fatal.

  Crocodiles and their relatives spend time on land and in water. There are more than 8,000 species of reptiles, which are divided into the following groups. Lizards 4,765 species Snakes 2,978 species Turtles and tortoises 307 species Amphibaenians (worm lizards) 165 species Crocodiles, alligators, caimans 23 species Tuataras 2 species

  A reptile is a vertebrate animal with a body covered in tough scales. Most reptiles live on land, but turtles and some kinds of snake live in water.

  Queen bees can lay two or three thousand eggs a day – as many as 200,000 eggs a year. They may live as long as five years, so can produce a million eggs.

  Some people are allergic to bee stings, which can even be fata. In 1962 in Rhodesia, Johanne Relleke was stung 2,243 times by wild bees, but survived!

  1.3 million tonnes of honey are produced worldwide every year. China is the main producer with 276,000 tonnes, followed by the USA with 82,000.

Honeybees’ wings beat 11,400 times a minute. These wing movements make the bees’ familiar buzz.

  One beehive may contain 50,000 worker bees – these are the bees which collect nectar from flowers to make honey.

  The smallest bee is the Brazilian Trigona duckei at 2–5 mm (0.08–0.20 in) long.

  Honeybees visit up to five million flowers to make 1 kg (2.2 lb) of honey. In doing so,  they fly a total distance equal to  flying four times round the Earth.

  Wallace’s giant bees are the world’s largest at up to 4 cm (1.6 in) long. They were first found in Indonesia in 1858 but were then thought to have become extinct. In 1981 the bees were rediscovered

  There are about 20,000 types of bee. The best known is probably the honeybee, but not all bee live in colonies like the honeybee. Many live alone and build their own nests. Honeybees are the only insects that make food which humans eat. Bees make honey to feed the inhabitants of their hives during winter. The honey they do not eat is harvested by beekeepers. Bees also make beeswax which is used for making candles and furniture polish.

  A species called Patu marplesi from western Samoa is the smallest known spider. It is only 0.46 mm (0.018 in) long.

  The goliath bird-eating spider, which lives in South American rainforests, has legs up to 25 cm (9.8 in) long.

  There are at least 35,000 species of spider. Most are harmless but a few can be deadly. The banana spider of Central and South America produces enough venom to kill six adults. Other daily spiders are the funnel-web, which lives in Australia, and the wolf spider of Central and South America. The black widow and various tarantulas are also dangerous and can kill.

  Spiders are not insects. They belong to a separate group called arachnids, which also includes scorpions. A spider’s body is divided into two parts linked by a narrow waist. It has four pairs of legs tipped with claws, but no wings. All spiders can make silk but not all spin webs.

  Jewel beetle larvae, or young, may live inside timber for up to 30 years or more before emerging and turning into adult insects.

  The wings of a battledore wing fairy fly, which is a kind a parasitic wasp, measure only 0.21 mm (0.008 in).