Bugs & Insects Facts for Kids
Creepy-crawly facts about insects and bugs
The queens of some ant species can live for over 30 years, while workers of the same species live only a few months — the queen's extreme longevity is not fully understood by scientists.
Scorpions glow bright blue-green under ultraviolet light because of special fluorescent chemicals in their exoskeleton — the reason for this remains a mystery.
Butterflies can see the colour red, which bees cannot — this is why many flowers pollinated only by butterflies are red, while bee-pollinated flowers are usually yellow, blue, or purple.
The atlas moth, one of the largest moths in the world, has no functional mouth parts and never eats as an adult — it lives for about a week on energy stored when it was a caterpillar.
Bee flies look remarkably similar to bumblebees but are actually harmless true flies — they have evolved their fuzzy bee-like appearance to trick predators into leaving them alone.
The spray ejected by the bombardier beetle reaches approximately 100°C (212°F) — the boiling point of water — when the two chemicals it stores separately mix together in a reaction chamber.
Weaver ants construct nests by pulling leaves together and sewing them with silk from their own larvae — some workers form living chains with their bodies to bridge gaps between leaves.
Adult mayflies live for as little as a few hours — just long enough to mate and lay eggs. They don't even have functional mouths because they never need to eat as adults.
Many stick insect species reproduce by parthenogenesis — unfertilised eggs develop into females without any involvement of a male. Populations can be entirely female for many generations.
Unlike wasps and flies, bees have branched or feathery body hairs that act like Velcro to trap pollen — this is one of the key anatomical features that makes bees such effective pollinators.