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...
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?
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...
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?
Okay...that's just...well...ugh. ;)
ReplyDeleteI don't get *too* grossed out that often - although cockroaches will ALWAYS gross me out! - but this is just a bit too much ugly bug for me! LOL! I'm sure, however, Robin would also love to see and/or hold one of those...gotta make sure she sees the article. Someone else I know posted this on her FB page too...don't think I'll share this one! Gross or not, though, admittedly it is kind of amazing and cool...in a chilling sort of way!
As to other memorable bug encounters, probably my most memorable is when I was in Bali. We just happened to stop - mostly for a bathroom break - on a day trip with our Balinese driver at the Butterfly museum. Let me tell you, they've got some big butterflies too! The chrysalis hanging looked more like bats than bugs (que bats eat bugs...). ANYway...
It wasn't so much the butterflies, but it was a variety of other insects too, like the stick and leaf bug (whatever they are specifically I don't know). You can see my 'glamour' shot with them on my Bali website here:
http://web.mac.com/politicalsailor63/Journey_to_Bali/Butterflies_%26_Bugs.html
The scarab and the scorpion with in different exhibits, but were also quite large...hard to tell that in those pictures, but trust me...they were big as well!
Ooooooh! Neat photos Heather. Loved the giant walking stick and the look on your face. Also, that big black scorpion is an Emperor Scorpion and I have held one before. it was part of my "getting over fear of arachnids" things I did. What an awesome side trip in Bali. Thanks for sharing.
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