Judy Cummings, age 10, of Sarasota, Florida, for her question:

What are ant lions?

The ant lion is not related to the real lion and does not even belong to the cat family. He is not an ant either. But, like the ant, he is an insect. He is called an ant lion because he feeds mostly on ants and some people think he acts like a fierce little lion. Actually, the brave lion hunts out in the open. The little ant lion builds a sneaky trap to catch his victims.

Some people call him the doodlebug because the only way he can walk is backwards. And he walks around and around, using his tail like a shovel to dig out a hole in the sand. The hole is a little pit with sloping sides. The ant lion sprinkles himself with sand and hides in the bottom. When an ant walks by, she slides down the slope. Then up pops the ant lion and grabs her for dinner.