Their tools are built into their exoskeletons . Their skills are mostly instinctive. The tools and skills of these two animals, however, are completely different. Because the Florida scrub is a very old type of sandy habitat, it has many of its own animals with their special adaptations. Two particular characteristics of sand have shaped the adaptations of these sand-dwelling animals.
Permeability means that animals can swim and burrow through the sand with remarkable ease.
They can excavate tunnels and underground chambers. Larvae of root-eating beetles can move around a plant, grazing on its rootlets. Larvae of predatory beetles and flies can hunt for the beetle larvae or for underground caterpillars. Snakes can move along the subways left by fast-moving moles. Ants and termites build subterranean corridors and chambers throughout.