Bug Love

For years I have been enthralled by insects. As a naturalist/educator I always loved doing the insect programs where the kids used nets to catch them in the prairie grasses or used dip nets to find those living in the water. Each sweep of the net would result in some new collection of critters that we eventually released onto a bright white sheet laid down on the ground or into a white bucket of water. The kids and I would gather around the edges, bug box in hand looking for the coolest bug to display in our boxes. Then we'd pass them around and oooh and aaaah over how cool each one looked. I would regale them with stories about how you tell a boy grasshopper from a girl grasshopper, how caddisflies build their underwater portable homes, how a baby mosquito breaths, how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly, how a dragonfly uses its wild basket-like jaws to catch prey, how cicadas live underground for up to 17 years and shed their skin to grow wings, find a mate, and then die and all manners of other fascinating stories.  Then, at the end of the lesson we would release all our critters back to their homes

While working in Louisiana at Sci-Port Discovery Center I had the honor of being in charge of the welfare of all the animals we had on display. There were lots of reptiles (baby alligators, turtles, snakes), amphibians (frogs, amphiumas), fish, and lots of insects. We had Madagascar hissing cockroaches, death's head cockroaches, crickets (for food), an African millipede (not an insect but close enough) and an entire colony of leaf cutter ants (Atta cephalotes). I fell in love with ants and would spend as much time as possible 'working' around the exhibit. My favorite time of day was before the museum opened. It was quiet and I would bring in a bunch of branches and leaves I had stripped from the nearby trees to feed the ants. When I opened the back door to the exhibit to give them their morning meal, if I was real still, I could hear the sounds of chewing. I was hypnotized.

All these memories were brought up by a recent news story from New Zealand. Apparently a park ranger from Colorado, Mark Moffett, was on Auckland's Little Barrier Island and took some photos of the largest/heaviest insect on earth, the Giant Weta, also called a wetapunga. It looks like this...

 

Giant Weta

The photo is in lots of international papers/websites despite it being a species that has already been classified by etymologists. Regardless, I am jealous. What an amazing critter to come across. Now, there are lots of other species of weta that are also very large, but this is apparently the largest species. I would love to be in an area where I could see such critters. This insect is only found on Little Barrier Island, is heavier than a sparrow, is about 4 inches long and is a great example of island gigantism.  Click on the link above or this one for more photos and info.

What a great way to take a walk down memory lane. Anyone else have awesome memories of critters they've come across?