Top 10 Hard to Believe Facts About Insects

April 20, 2009

Insects are efficient and compassionate, ruthless and amazingly intelligent at the same time. Lonesome Polecat, our resident insect expert, has come up with a few bug facts are very, very odd.

photo:Greenputty

Top 10 Hard to Believe Facts About Insects

Certain types of grasshoppers and crickets have their ears on their front legs.

photo: myriorama

Only three kinds of animals fight battles in formations: humans, crows and ants.

photo: Kamran Ahmed

There are wasp species that specialize in hunting other dangerous predators ( Praying Mantis, Black-bellied Tarantula).

photo: ashepherd

Mosquitoes ( the disease-carrying ones) have killed more human beings than all the wars in history combined.

photo: smcann

Houseflies can taste with their feet ( they have taste buds on them).

photo: coffee_bee

Some wasps sleep ( and even hibernate for months) while hanging by their teeth.

photo: myriorama

African termite mounds can be 40 feet high and use an intricate system of ventilation shafts to control the temperature inside.

photo: cliff1066

Indian moon moths are able to smell the pheromones of a potential mate over 6 miles away.

photo: goldenorfe

Termite queens will lay up to 30,000 eggs a day, and they live for many years.

photo: J.N. Stuart

Larvae of one type of midge ( a tiny mosquitoe-like insect) can survive for 3 days in liquid nitrogen. The temperature of liquid nitrogen is -321 degrees Fahrenheit.

photo: nebarnix

Curious about the sex lives of insects? Check out our X-rated Insect Facts!

Comments

[lonesome polecat]

I also read recently that crows have their own equivalent of street gangs; large groups (up to 100)of young males who hang out together, fight together, and also have aerial duels amongst themselves to determine status. No, they don't have tiny leather jackets and switchblade knives...too bad.

[Joanna]

@ afroman Did you see the fierce Bo the Crow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0xRrtS-_Wk

[afroman]

Did any one else feel the need to look up crow battle formations on youtube?

[Joanna]

@ c I don't think you're serious but in case you are I think it's difficult to verify your statement. Recently there haven been quite heated debates as to whether the fierce T-rex were hunters or scavengers. If they were indeed scavengers, they wouldn't hunt in formation.

[Joanna]

Sp and agreement corrections--battles (not batles). skill (not skills).

[Joanna]

I agree with Lonesome Polecat. Hunting as a pack for food and fighting in formations (aka batles)are very different. This is not to imply that animals who hunt in packs are not intelligent--the cooperation it takes to accomplish that is quite a developed skills. But it's not a battle with opposing factions.

[lonesome polecat]

@Michael and @c The fact you're referring to is about fighting battles,
not hunting. Two very different things.
In human terms, battles are Waterloo and Gettysburg; hunting is a handful of guys shooting at a deer. Battles require formations which is why all modern armies have officers and are organized into platoons, companies etc.

[c]

Tyrannosaurus Rex also hunt in formations.

[Michael]

The fact about hunting in formations is not true. Many wildcats and wolves hunt in formations too.

[lonesome polecat]

@idav - good point. Many animals who live socially use simple tactics (males in front to protect the females, distract the lioness while your buddies drag off the gazelle carcass, etc.). However, this is different from the large scale sophisticated tactics that the three mentioned animals use. For example, slave raiding ants like Formica sanguinea arrange themselves into multiple formations of 50-200 ants each, perform attacks in well-timed, coordinated stages, and use tactics like reconnaissance, misdirection, concealment, spearheads, and encirclement. Napoleon couldn't have done it better.

[idav]

"Only three kinds of animals fight battles in formations: humans, crows and ants."

I'd like to know where they got this piece of nonsense. Elephants, Hippopotamuses, and all kinds of animals arrange themselves in a strategic manner.

[David]

Okay, just want to address the comments about the temperature. Liquid nitrogen exists at around 70 degrees kelvin, about -200 degrees celsius or about -330 fahrenheit. And matter cannot exist at 0 degrees kelvin. The zero in the kelvin scale is based on the absolute theoretical minimum temperature, where no thermal energy is present (quantum mechanics sais this is impossible). 0 degrees fahrenheit is about -17 degrees celsius and where I live it can get to below -50 degrees celsius (rarely but it does happen).

[Dan Gray]

@Ravi: You are thinking of the Kelvin scale, not Fahrenheit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelvin

[Ravi]

Nice, but I have a doubt here. I read in school that matter cannot exist at 0 degrees Fahrenheit. I think the last fact is impossible.

[Nerdabout]

@caleb Thanks for the editorial catch. We must have been overwhelmed by the coolness of the bug pics. :-)

[caleb]

they forgot the l in live on the termite screen picture.

[lonesome polecat]

@dd Good questions! I guess if a cricket lost its' legs it couldn't hear, but it would have a more serious problem: crickets that can't move fast get eaten quickly. Male crickets make those chirping sounds by playing their bodies like an instrument, and have different "songs" for challenging rivals, attracting females, etc. I've heard that in Japan crickets are kept as pets and I can understand why... their songs are peaceful and remind us of country gardens.

[dd]

It is hard to believe that crickets have ears in their front legs. Is that why they rub their legs together? Is a legless cricket deaf? How keen is their hearing? Strange how the simple cricket can suddenly become interesting.....

[lonesome polecat]

@Joanna yes, that top pic is really
cute. It reminds me of "Alice the Goon"
from Popeye. Here's a link for those who are unfamiliar with Alice:
http://pictureloaders.com/pics/articles/popeyes-alice-the-goon-pictures.html

That's a very cool looking mosquito too;
it looks like it is wearing warpaint

[Kate]

That's crazy about mosquitos killing more people in history than all the wars combined. Who knew? Also, we should figure out how the termites heat and cool their houses with ventilation shafts and design our houses to do the same! :-)

[Joanna]

I love the top photo. It's awesome.

[John]

bzzt!