I Don’t Mean to
BeRude!
Supply and Demand
By Josh Morison
The Fine Art of Spitting
By Joanne Ghio
Table of Contents
Chapter One
On Target . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter Two
Spitting Seabird . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Chapter Three
Cover Your Eyes! . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Chapter Four
Sneaky Fish. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Chapter Five
Claiming Clams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
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Llamas are usually
gentle animals unless
they are disturbed.
Chapter One
On Target
This llama is
spitting saliva to
show his annoyance.
As humans, we are often asked to mind our manners. Actions like spitting are
considered rude behavior. Unless at a dentist’s office, or after brushing, we try
to avoid spitting, especially in public. On the other hand, animals have different
behavioral systems. Some animals spit, but it’s not considered rude. It is just
part of nature.
One spitting animal is the llama. These animals spit in self-defense. Llamas
can spit up to six feet and are usually right on target. They spit to settle
arguments with each other, to decide which llama is the leader, and to
communicate feelings.
The contents of a llama’s spit can vary. If the animal is bothered while it is
eating, it will spit whatever is in its mouth, which is usually grain, at whatever
is annoying it. Llamas can also spit streams of saliva. The most distressing
spit of all occurs when a llama spits out the contents of its stomach.
This green mass of partly digested food and digestive juices is smelly and
unpleasant to bystanders.
Title: I Don’t Mean to Be Rude!
Grade: 5
Page: 1
Chapter Two
Spitting Seabird
A seabird that looks like a gull but called a fulmar
also spits foul-smelling stomach juices. Fulmars
spit yellow stomach oil that smells sickly sweet and
fishy. This oil repels birds and other animals that
threaten the fulmar’s nest, as well as birds that try
to settle where the fulmar wants to nest.
Fulmars look like seagulls.
First, the bird makes a coughing noise. Then it
charges toward the intruder and spews the oil.
The oil sticks to the feathers or fur of the enemy. This can cause the oil-soaked
animal to have trouble swimming and sometimes causes the victim to drown.
Fulmar chicks are born knowing how to spit in self-defense. This is important
because the parents must leave the babies in the nest while they hunt for
food. At first the chicks don’t know the difference between spitting on
enemies and their parents. So for awhile, the babies spit on their parents!
However, the oil comes off the fulmar when it grooms itself.
The fulmar spits oil to protect
itself from enemies.
Title: I Don’t Mean to Be Rude!
Grade: 5
Page: 2
Chapter Three
Cover Your Eyes!
Some cobras spit venom through a small hole in their fangs. They are the red,
Mozambique, and black-necked spitting cobras. This skill is part of the cobra’s
self-defense plan. These snakes squeeze poison out under high pressure, and it
shoots four to eight feet! They also have a great ability to aim their poison. The
goal is to spit right in the enemy’s eyes. Mozambiques are known for hitting
their target almost every time!
The venom isn’t usually deadly, but it stings the victim’s eyes. It can even cause
permanent blindness. People who study cobras in zoos and labs wear safety
goggles or masks. A worker at the San Diego Zoo says that he often has to
clean venom off his mask after he takes care of the cobras. The cobra’s spitting
behavior is not learned. One researcher reported that a baby cobra spit at him
as it was breaking out of its shell.
A red spitting cobra
Title: I Don’t Mean to Be Rude!
A Mozambique spitting cobra
shoots out its venom.
Grade: 5
Page: 3
Chapter Four
Sneaky Fish
Archerfish spit to catch food, such as insects, lizards, and other small animals.
First, they spy a tasty meal on a bush or other surface above the water. Then
they form a tube with their tongue and the roof of their mouth. They stick
this tube out of the water and spit out a powerful stream of water. The goal is
to knock their prey from its resting place into the water. The fish then quickly
scoop up their meal and swallow it.
Shooting a forceful jet of water takes a lot of effort. Therefore, the archerfish
tries to get its prey the first time. The fish has an ability to judge the victim’s
size and vary how hard it spits. If the prey is small, the archerfish uses less
force. If it is large, the fish uses more force.
Archerfish often hunt in groups,
and all the fish shoot at the same
target. The first fish to swoop in
and claim the kill gets to eat.
The archerfish spits
for his dinner.
Title: I Don’t Mean to Be Rude!
Archerfish sometimes travel
and hunt together.
Grade: 5
Page: 4
Chapter Five
Claiming Clams
Another animal that spits to catch food is the walrus. Walruses like eating clams.
However, it is hard to find clams because they live in dark, deep, muddy water.
An added problem is that walruses do not have especially good eyesight.
Walruses feel for prey with their sensitive whiskers. When they find what they
think will be a tasty meal, they spit out a strong stream of water. This stirs up
the muck at the bottom of the sea and uncovers clams and other prey.
Walruses spit to find their food, but they suck to eat
it. They have powerful suction in their mouths.
This allows them to slurp the meat out of clams
and other shellfish like snails and crabs. It is a
good thing that walruses have a clever way
to find food because these huge animals are
big eaters. They can eat 6,000 clams at once!
It is hard for a walrus to see its
prey on the muddy sea bottom.
A walrus uses long, sensitive
whiskers to find food.
Title: I Don’t Mean to Be Rude!
Animals can spit water, saliva,
poison, and stomach juices,
but they spit for different
reasons. Some spit to defend
themselves. Others spit to catch
food. One thing’s for certain,
many spit to survive.
Grade: 5
Page: 5
Glossary
behavioral: (adjective) the way in which a life form responds to a specific set of
conditions.
foul: (adjective) very unpleasant or disgusting to the senses.
intruder: (noun) person or animal that comes into a place where it is not
welcome.
permanent: (adjective) never changing.
repel: (verb) to make someone or something go away.
saliva: (noun) clear liquid in the mouth of humans or animals.
self-defense: (noun) protecting oneself from danger.
sensitive: (adjective) having a strong reaction to things that arouse the senses.
suction: (noun) process of removing something from a space in order to pull it
into another space.
venom: (noun) poison produced in an animal’s body to use in catching prey or
defending itself.
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Title: I Don’t Mean to Be Rude!
Grade: 5
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