The Miraculous Insect

Butterflies taste with their feet!

Creepy, Crawlies

Why do we have such an aversion to insects? It would seem to be ingrained in us from childhood: See a bug, step on it. We live in a world inhabited by tiny, fascinating creatures of all types, shapes and sizes. Beautiful little beings flitter about like fairies in some magical land. Yet, unless you're an entomologist (a bug scientist), you probably see them as gross, scary or disgusting. Something to be killed on sight and avoided at at all costs.

A childhood friend and I used to seek out ant colonies and use them as real life enemy forces against our army men (Starship Troopers, some 40 years before it's debut!). And what little boy hasn't taken a magnifying glass to a line of ants?

That buzzing sound you hear in the Summer are Cicadas. These insects spend 13 to 17 years underground as nymphs before emerging.

It wasn't until I got a little older, and started to see nature programs about insects that I started to realize just how incredible these creatures are. And the more I learn, the more in awe I am of them. I'll no longer step on a bug that I see outside just because it's there. In fact, when walking, I'll side-step to avoid doing just that. Bugs inside, however, are a different matter. Those which cannot be easily "relocated" are doomed. Spiders brave enough to wander inside had better keep hidden. Flies are annoying little shits and are hunted down and swatted (ever had one bugging you while you're trying to sleep?). Playing classical music while doing this makes it very dramatic... and fun! While most insects are harmless and are more afraid of us than we are of them (just look at the size difference), mosquitoes are another thing entirely. These are disease-carrying, potentially deadly creatures who seek us out and feed on our blood, and in doing so, pass on dangerous and sometimes fatal diseases. Mosquitoes are shown no quarter - whether inside or out. I'll kill them on sight and hope I've spared someone sickness or worse.

While it may not seem like it, scorpions are insects, of the arachnida (spider) family.

I have arachnophobia - a fear of spiders, because I was raised that way. But I am, as an adult, less afraid and more respectful of their marvelous abilities. So, I now have an uneasy pact with them: Stay away from me, and I'll stay away from you. I won't harm you outside but, come into my home, or worse yet, crawl on me, and I'll squash you like the creepy bug you are!

It works, for the most part.

Insects have inspired the designs of the machines of war for centuries: Body armor, armored vehicles and ships, tanks, helicopters, hovercraft, etc.

The Aliens All Around Us

Insects are a major group of arthropods and the most diverse group of animals on Earth. There are over one million described species - more than half of all known living organisms - with an estimated 30 million undescribed species. This means insects represent about 90% of all differing life forms (including us humans) on the planet. If all the insect species decided collectivelly to once and for all rid themselves of those obnoxious humans who continually smash, swat, spray and fumigate them, they would probably have little trouble doing so.

Social insects, such as termites, ants, bees and wasps, live together in large well-organized colonies which are so tightly integrated and genetically similar that they are considered super-organisms. Some entomologists believe honey bees have evolved an abstract form of symbolic communication - in which behavior is used to convey specific information about the environment - called "dance language." For instance, the angle at which a honey bee dances represents a direction relative to the Sun, and the length of the dance represents the distance to be flown.

The Ants

Ants evolved from wasp-like creatures around 120 million years ago. They live in highly organized colonies which typically consist of millions of ants, which are mostly sterile female "workers" and "soldiers" with some fertile male "drones" and one "Queen." They have colonized almost every landmass on Earth - the few exceptions being remote or inhospitable islands. They dominate most ecosystems and form 15-20% of the animal biomass. And societies have division of labour, communication between individuals, and an ability to solve complex problems. It is these parallels with human societies which have long made them a favorite subject of study.

Aphids, which secrete a sweet liquid called honeydew, are kept, raised and protected by ant colonies as a food source. They also herd a certain breed of caterpillar, which also secretes honeydew, for this same purpose, leading it to feeding grounds during the day and back into the protection of the nest at night. Some species of ants, such as Leaf Cutter Ants, are farmers, who cultivate certain species of fungus by cutting leaves, bringing them back to the colony where they are cut into smaller pieces and placed in the gardens. The ants feed on special structures produced by the fungus.

Some ants, such as Amazon Ants, are slave-raiding specialists. Incapable of feeding themselves, they raid other ant colonies, capturing and enslaving workers and aphids which then care for and feed the Amazons.

"Something in the insect seems to be alien to the habits, morals, and psychology of this world, as if it had come from some other planet: more monstrous, more energetic, more insensate, more atrocious, more infernal than our own."

-Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949)

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