Hermit crabs use a variety of things as mobile homes in addition to shells, but this hydrozoan just seems a little unwieldy, doesn't it?

Octopus love to hide in small containers, the snugger the better. Mollusk shells are handy for assembling a made-to-fit shelter.

A hermit crab in its best known shelter of choice- a snail shell.

This is a picture of black bear. Notice the big hole in the tree in the background. Sometimes bears make dens in hollow trees, caves, or piles of dirt or plant materials. Bears sleep and raise their young (baby bears) in the dens. In cold climates the black bears will hibernate in the dens during the winter. All pregnant females hibernate and give birth while they hibernate! The black bear babies, called cubs, snuggle with the mother bear to stay warm. The cubs will also drink the mothers milk for food while she hibernates.

This is a picture of a common wasp’s nest. Wasps will build their nests on walls, in trees, or underground in an animal burrow. Wasps make their nests by chewing up wood from plants and trees. The chewed up wood turns into a material that is like paper. Wasps rely on the wood from plants and trees to make their nests. Click on the picture to get a better look at this wasp’s nest.

This is a picture of a dam that a beaver made. To see what a beaver looks like click http://eol.org/data_objects/18638683”>here. Beavers make dams out of sticks, wood, and other parts of trees. They build dams in rivers to slow down the flow of water. They like to slow down the water to protect their homes. They want to make sure their homes have enough water around them. They build their homes out of sticks and wood. Their homes are called lodges. Click on this picture to get a better look at the dam.

This is a picture of a beaver’s home. A beaver’s home is called a lodge. Beavers build their lodges out of sticks, moss, leaves, and mud. Beavers usually enter and leave their lodge under water. A beaver family sleeps and raises its young in lodges Click on the picture to get a better look.

This is a black-tailed prairie dog. These prairie dogs live under ground. They live with lots of other prairie dogs underground. These underground homes are called towns. The towns are made up of lots of burrows and underground tunnels. The towns can be very big and some can hold millions of prairie dogs! These towns offer shelter and protection from animals that like to eat prairie dogs. Click on the picture to see a prairie dog poking out of the opening of this burrow. Prairie dogs leave come out from underground to forage or look for food.

This is a picture of a scorpion. There are many different types of scorpions. Some scorpions like to live under rocks. Click on the picture to see the scorpion near the rock. They use rocks to protect themselves. Some scorpions that live in the desert will make burrows underground. These desert scorpions can dig holes and burrow. These burrows protect the scorpions from the heat of the desert. The burrows are also more humid or moist than dry deserts.

This is a picture of a mute swan sitting in a nest. They like to live near bodies of water like lakes, ponds and marshes. These swans make nests out of plants that grow in or near the water. The nests are large mounds of plant materials. Nests are lined with feathers. They like to make their nests near the edge of water. Swans lay their eggs in nests. These swans sit on their eggs to keep them warm and protect them.

This is a picture of a honeycomb inside of a beehive. Bees make honeycombs inside of their hives. Bees make honeycombs from bees wax. Female worker bees make the wax. They get rid of or secrete the wax from a place on their stomachs. Bees store honey and pollen in honeycombs. Bees make honey from the nectar of flowers. Bees also lay their eggs in the honeycomb. The honeycombs are also places for bees eggs to hatch and their larva and pupa to grow. Click on this photo to get a better look at the honey comb.

This is a picture of part of a beehive that is inside of a tree. In nature, bees like to build their hives inside of hollow trees or in caves. They seal off their hive so that there is only one opening to their hive. The opening is for bees to fly in and out of. They seal their hive with bees wax and something called propolis. Female worker bees make the wax. They get rid of or secrete the wax from a place on their stomachs. Propolis is a mix of saps and other things that bees collect from trees, flowers, or other plants. Bees like to build their hives close to areas where there's a lot pollen and nectar. Bees eat pollen and nectar. Click on the picture to get a good look of the hive inside the tree. This tree broke during a storm.

This is a black-footed ferret. It is the only ferret that is from or native to North America. It used to be extinct in the wild, but scientist reintroduced these ferrets to certain places in the United States. Ferrets now live in Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Ferrets eat prairie dogs and use prairie dogs’ burrows for shelter. Ferrets raise their young (baby ferrets) underground in these burrows and dens. Click on the picture to see the opening of this burrow.

This is a black-footed ferret. It is the only ferret that is from or native to North America. It used to be extinct in the wild, but scientist reintroduced these ferrets to certain places in the United States. Ferrets now live in Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Ferrets eat prairie dogs and use prairie dogs’ burrows for shelter. Ferrets raise their young (baby ferrets) underground in these burrows and dens. Click on the picture to see the black-footed ferret and the opening of the burrow.

This is a bird's nest. Many birds use plant parts like twigs and sticks to build nests. They lay their eggs in the nest. When the eggs hatch this is where young birds live before they learn to fly.

This is the hole where a groundhog lives. Groundhogs are also called woodchucks. Groundhogs dig big holes underground called burrows. Burrows are where the groundhogs live. These burrows can be really deep. During the winter the groundhogs stay in their burrows and hibernate. Hibernating is kinda like sleeping. They stay in their burrows during the winter because their burrows help them stay warm. To see a picture of what a groundhog looks like click here.

This is an orange clown fish resting on a sea anemone.. A sea anemone is an animal that lives in the ocean. Sea anemones have long skinny things called tentacles. In the picture the clown fish is laying in the middle of the tentacles. Clown fish use the sea anemone for shelter. The sea anemones tentacles can sting other animals. Other animals are less likely to eat the clown fish when the clown fish is on the sea anemone. Other animals won't eat the clown fish because the sea anemone can sting those animals. Clown use the sea anemone for shelter and protection.

This is a bird called a red-crowned barbet. Notice how it is using the tree as a shelter. Click on the picture to get a better look.

This is a type of snail. Snails like to live under rocks. They like to live under rocks because it is damp or wet under rocks. Snails like to live in damp places so that they don’t get too hot and dry out.

This is a nest of eastern tent caterpillars. These nests are called tents. These caterpillars build tents from silk they make. This is similar to how spiders build webs. These caterpillars make their nests in trees. They use their nests to protect them from heat and rain. Trees are important for these caterpillars because they make their nests in trees. To see a picture of this kind of caterpillar click here