Many animals use wood. Some use it as a building material to make their homes. Other animals eat wood. Animals like woodworm sometimes eat the wood we use inside our homes and leave it full of holes. They can harm whole houses.
Termites can also damage wooden houses.
Most animals can’t eat wood because it contains tough cellulose. Termites can eat wood because they have tiny creatures inside their gut which digest the cellulose for them. Termites live in the ground and dig tunnels into trees or wooden buildings. In some countries they are a problem because they damage wooden buildings.
This wasps’ nest is made from wood fibres.
Wasps use wood to make their delicate paper nests. They scrape wood from wooden sheds or fence posts and chew it into a pulp. Then they shape the pulp into a nest. When the pulp dries out it hardens into paper.
Beavers use wood to build their homes.
Beavers cut down trees and use them to dam up streams and create a new lake. They use the trees to build a safe home, called a lodge, in the middle of the lake. They store branches under water and then eat them in the winter.
