Animals that weave

Look closely around you. Birds build nests and spiders spin webs. Your book says nature is full of hidden artists — animals, birds and insects that weave, stitch, design and even glue things together. One hidden artist was weaving long before humans ever did!

It is the male baya weaver, a weaverbird. He builds beautiful hanging nests from grass. He weaves the grass strands over and under each other, and this makes the nest strong.

The nest is shaped like a pouch, and it hangs from the branches of a tree. An expert weaverbird weaves a very fine nest, while young birds who are just learning make rather rough ones. Like us, they get better with practice!