Insect Interest
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
General Facts
Beetles taste like apples, wasps like pine nuts, and worms like fried bacon.
Some worms will eat themselves if they can’t find any food!
Bees must collect the nectar from two thousand flowers to make one tablespoonful of honey. In its entire lifetime, the average worker bee produces 1/12th teaspoon of honey.
Tapeworms range in size from about 0.04 inch to more than 50 feet in length.
A dragonfly has a lifespan of exactly 24 hours.
In Africa swarms of Locusts may contain as many as 28,000,000,000 individuals. A large swarm may eat up to 80,000 tons of grain and other vegetation in a day.
Amazon ants (red ants found in the western U.S.) steal the larvae of other ants to keep as slaves. The slave ants build homes for and feed the Amazon ants, who cannot do anything but fight.
Each year, insects eat 1/3 of the Earth’s food crop.
Dragonflies can fly 36 miles (58k) an hour.
A click beetle plays dead by lying on its back, then snaps a hinge, licks his body up in the air, and scuttles away to live another day.
For more than 3,000 years, Carpenter ants have been used to close wounds in India, Asia and South America.
The longest insect is a walking stick that can reach a length of 33 centimeters.
The eggs of walking stick insects are among the largest in the insect world. Some eggs are more than eight millimeters long.
Ants can lift 50 times their own weight. But that's nothing compared with the honey bee, which can lift 300 times its own weight - roughly the equivalent of a person lifting 15 tons.
Some worms will eat themselves if they can’t find any food!
Bees must collect the nectar from two thousand flowers to make one tablespoonful of honey. In its entire lifetime, the average worker bee produces 1/12th teaspoon of honey.
Tapeworms range in size from about 0.04 inch to more than 50 feet in length.
A dragonfly has a lifespan of exactly 24 hours.
In Africa swarms of Locusts may contain as many as 28,000,000,000 individuals. A large swarm may eat up to 80,000 tons of grain and other vegetation in a day.
Amazon ants (red ants found in the western U.S.) steal the larvae of other ants to keep as slaves. The slave ants build homes for and feed the Amazon ants, who cannot do anything but fight.
Each year, insects eat 1/3 of the Earth’s food crop.
Dragonflies can fly 36 miles (58k) an hour.
A click beetle plays dead by lying on its back, then snaps a hinge, licks his body up in the air, and scuttles away to live another day.
For more than 3,000 years, Carpenter ants have been used to close wounds in India, Asia and South America.
The longest insect is a walking stick that can reach a length of 33 centimeters.
The eggs of walking stick insects are among the largest in the insect world. Some eggs are more than eight millimeters long.
Ants can lift 50 times their own weight. But that's nothing compared with the honey bee, which can lift 300 times its own weight - roughly the equivalent of a person lifting 15 tons.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
General Facts
1. A cockroach can live for about nine days without its head. It could live for its lifetime without head, cockroach actually dies because of not being able to drink water.
2. Dragonflies can fly at speeds up to 30 miles per hour.
3. The color a head louse will be as an adult can depend on the color of the person's hair in which it lives.
4. The cochineal insect, which lives on the prickly pear cactus in the southwestern United States, is an excellent source of natural red dye. The insects are dried and ground into a powder that is cooked to release the maximum amount of color. The powder is then used as a dye for fiber, fabric, and basketry materials. It has also been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in food and cosmetics. Most brands of lipstick and some kinds of fruit drinks are tinted with cochineal extract.
5. In the 1960s, animal behavior researchers studied the effects of various substances on spiders. When spiders were fed flies that had been injected with caffeine, they spun very "nervous" webs. When spiders ate flies injected with LSD, they spun webs with wild, abstract patterns. Spiders that were given sedatives fell asleep before completing their webs.
6. The bombadier beetle defends itself by firing a boiling hot spray from the rear of its abdomen. The spray is formed at the moment of firing by mixing chemicals from two glands in the beetle's abdomen. The spray changes instantly into a gas and is directed away from the beetle. The gas irritates the eyes of the enemy and forms a smoke screen which helps the beetle to escape while the enemy is confused.
7. Termites can’t digest wood, the protozoa in their stomach (they eat them when they are younger) actually are the devourers of the wood.
8. Slugs have 4 noses.
9. A dragonfly’s first six months of life are spent underwater. After this time, it comes out of the water, sheds its outer skin, and starts flying, but if it falls in the water after it has shed its skin, it drowns.
10. A leech can drink up to eight time its weight in blood at one sitting.
11. There are more insects in one square mile of rural land than there are human beings on the entire earth.
12. There are more than 900,000 known species of insects in the world.
13. More people are killed each year from bees than from snakes.
2. Dragonflies can fly at speeds up to 30 miles per hour.
3. The color a head louse will be as an adult can depend on the color of the person's hair in which it lives.
4. The cochineal insect, which lives on the prickly pear cactus in the southwestern United States, is an excellent source of natural red dye. The insects are dried and ground into a powder that is cooked to release the maximum amount of color. The powder is then used as a dye for fiber, fabric, and basketry materials. It has also been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in food and cosmetics. Most brands of lipstick and some kinds of fruit drinks are tinted with cochineal extract.
5. In the 1960s, animal behavior researchers studied the effects of various substances on spiders. When spiders were fed flies that had been injected with caffeine, they spun very "nervous" webs. When spiders ate flies injected with LSD, they spun webs with wild, abstract patterns. Spiders that were given sedatives fell asleep before completing their webs.
6. The bombadier beetle defends itself by firing a boiling hot spray from the rear of its abdomen. The spray is formed at the moment of firing by mixing chemicals from two glands in the beetle's abdomen. The spray changes instantly into a gas and is directed away from the beetle. The gas irritates the eyes of the enemy and forms a smoke screen which helps the beetle to escape while the enemy is confused.
7. Termites can’t digest wood, the protozoa in their stomach (they eat them when they are younger) actually are the devourers of the wood.
8. Slugs have 4 noses.
9. A dragonfly’s first six months of life are spent underwater. After this time, it comes out of the water, sheds its outer skin, and starts flying, but if it falls in the water after it has shed its skin, it drowns.
10. A leech can drink up to eight time its weight in blood at one sitting.
11. There are more insects in one square mile of rural land than there are human beings on the entire earth.
12. There are more than 900,000 known species of insects in the world.
13. More people are killed each year from bees than from snakes.
General Facts
1. A cockroach can live for about nine days without its head. It could live for its lifetime without head, cockroach actually dies because of not being able to drink water.2. Dragonflies can fly at speeds up to 30 miles per hour.3. The color a head louse will be as an adult can depend on the color of the person's hair in which it lives.4. The cochineal insect, which lives on the prickly pear cactus in the southwestern United States, is an excellent source of natural red dye. The insects are dried and ground into a powder that is cooked to release the maximum amount of color. The powder is then used as a dye for fiber, fabric, and basketry materials. It has also been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in food and cosmetics. Most brands of lipstick and some kinds of fruit drinks are tinted with cochineal extract.5. In the 1960s, animal behavior researchers studied the effects of various substances on spiders. When spiders were fed flies that had been injected with caffeine, they spun very "nervous" webs. When spiders ate flies injected with LSD, they spun webs with wild, abstract patterns. Spiders that were given sedatives fell asleep before completing their webs.6. The bombadier beetle defends itself by firing a boiling hot spray from the rear of its abdomen. The spray is formed at the moment of firing by mixing chemicals from two glands in the beetle's abdomen. The spray changes instantly into a gas and is directed away from the beetle. The gas irritates the eyes of the enemy and forms a smoke screen which helps the beetle to escape while the enemy is confused.7. Termites can’t digest wood, the protozoa in their stomach (they eat them when they are younger) actually are the devourers of the wood.8. Slugs have 4 noses.9. A dragonfly’s first six months of life are spent underwater. After this time, it comes out of the water, sheds its outer skin, and starts flying, but if it falls in the water after it has shed its skin, it drowns.10. A leech can drink up to eight time its weight in blood at one sitting.11. There are more insects in one square mile of rural land than there are human beings on the entire earth.12. There are more than 900,000 known species of insects in the world.13. More people are killed each year from bees than from snakes.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
General Facts
Many insects can carry 50 times their own body weight.
If all the insects in the world were put on a scale, they would out weigh all creatures.
For more than 3,000 years, Carpenter ants have been used to close wounds in India, Asia and South America.
The longest insect is a walking stick that can reach a length of 33 centimeters.
The eggs of walking stick insects are among the largest in the insect world. Some eggs are more than eight millimeters long.
A scorpion can have up to 12 eyes.
A caterpillar grows roughly 27,000 times its size when it first emerges as an egg.
Locusts can eat their own weight in food in a day. A person eats his own body weight in about half a year.
Monarch caterpillars shed their skin four times before they become a chrysalis, growing over 2700 times their original size.
The common garden worm has five pairs of hearts.
About 80% of the Earth’s animals are insects!
There is only one insect that can turn its head -- the praying mantis.
A flea can jump 130 times its own height.
The fiddler crab can grow a new claw when it loses one of its own.
The Jungle Nymph Stick is one of the heaviest insects. In Malaysia they are often kept by people who feed them guava leaves and use the droppings to make tea.
If all the insects in the world were put on a scale, they would out weigh all creatures.
For more than 3,000 years, Carpenter ants have been used to close wounds in India, Asia and South America.
The longest insect is a walking stick that can reach a length of 33 centimeters.
The eggs of walking stick insects are among the largest in the insect world. Some eggs are more than eight millimeters long.
A scorpion can have up to 12 eyes.
A caterpillar grows roughly 27,000 times its size when it first emerges as an egg.
Locusts can eat their own weight in food in a day. A person eats his own body weight in about half a year.
Monarch caterpillars shed their skin four times before they become a chrysalis, growing over 2700 times their original size.
The common garden worm has five pairs of hearts.
About 80% of the Earth’s animals are insects!
There is only one insect that can turn its head -- the praying mantis.
A flea can jump 130 times its own height.
The fiddler crab can grow a new claw when it loses one of its own.
The Jungle Nymph Stick is one of the heaviest insects. In Malaysia they are often kept by people who feed them guava leaves and use the droppings to make tea.
