Where does this come from, and can I check it?

Air enters spiracles and travels through tubes called tracheae. The figure is taken from Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a animals fact?

Yes. It sits on the Animals shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

What else can I read about it?

The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

Insects breathe through holes in their sides

Air enters spiracles and travels through tubes called tracheae The network delivers oxygen directly to tissue without using blood as a carrier. Muscular pumping and body movement help move the air. That limits how large an insect can grow, because diffusion only reaches so far. It sits in Mondo's animals collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

Britannica

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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Science trivia

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Frogs breathe through their skin as well as their lungsMoist skin absorbs oxygen directly from water and air Koala fingerprints are nearly identical to human fingerprintsEven under electron microscopes, koala print loops are hard to distinguish.Sea urchins scrape rocks using a five-toothed jaw mechanismAristotle lantern apparatus features five self-sharpening teeth.An octopus has three hearts and blue bloodTwo hearts pump through the gills and one serves the body An elephant trunk has about 40,000 muscle unitsThat flexibility lets it lift a log or pick up a single seed A blue whale heart weighs about 180 kilogramsIts aorta is wide enough for a small child to crawl through

Tags: insects, respiration, anatomy

Insects breathe through holes in their sides: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: Air enters spiracles and travels through tubes called tracheae. The figure is taken from Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a animals fact?: Yes. It sits on the Animals shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.