Insects of the Earth
The world is teeming with interesting creatures that crawl through the grass, the dirt, fluttering through the air. Some of the most fascinating creatures to ever crawl this earth are the insects, the littlest of creatures viewable by the human eyes without a microscope. They are helpful for continuing are eco-systems but even more, some of them are just downright brilliant, in a variety of different ways from being stunningly beautiful to being weirdly strange. Every little bug has its own quirks and evolutionary ticks that make them shine.
While normal bees, with their black and yellow stripes, are wonderful enough, they are nowhere near as gorgeous as the orchid bees. Though some of the Orchid bees have the typical black and yellow stripes, many of the others are dipped in a colour that shimmers. They can be any number of colours with new species being discovered every single year. These insects are native to the Americas and, like other bees, collects pollen, nectar and resin from all manner of plants. Another unique thing about these insects is their amazing capacity to travel distances of up to 30 miles. Considering that these small insects are only an inch long, this journey for them is travelling 1900800 times there own length in one trip with only the strength of their small wings. One of the possible reasons as to why these small creatures would push themselves so far is because of mating and attraction. Different plants have different smells and these bees may just be trying to get the perfect combination of smells. Some scientists believe that the reason that these bees go so far for the perfect combination is to attract mates, especially the males. This behaviour as seen in the males, of seeking specific scents to hold within themselves, is the reason that these insects are called the orchid bee.
In East Africa, there is a species of praying mantis, one of the largest that has ever been discovered to ever be known to mimic. This insect is known as the Devil’s Flower Mantis. These creatures are either brown or green, whatever colour they have to be to fit into their own personal environments. When they are young, the large bugs look much like the brown crumpled and dried leaves found on the ground in the autumn. When they grow, they replicate the look of the flowers of their local environments. This mantis, like others of its species, is primarily and strictly a carnivore, preferring to eat airborne insects. Also much like other species, these creatures perform the act of sexual cannibalism, the act of eating the mate after copulation. The females of this species can create and produce a large number of foam-like eggs, between ten and fifty of which will hatch within fifty days of production. They are highly sort after as exotic pets, however, they do not do well in captivity.
There a dozen of other gorgeous and maybe disturbing creatures that sneak through the trees and crawl through the dirt beneath our feet. The natural world is a marvel that we are merely lucky to witness.
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