Bugs & Insects Facts for Kids
Creepy-crawly facts about insects and bugs
Mantis shrimps (not true insects but close relatives) have 16 types of colour receptors compared to a human's 3, and can see into ultraviolet and infrared spectrums.
Leafcutter bees cut neat circular pieces from rose and other plant leaves, rolling them into tubes to line their nest cells and protect their eggs.
Aphids can reproduce without mating in a process called parthenogenesis — females give birth to daughters who are already pregnant, allowing populations to explode very rapidly.
In New Zealand caves, glowworm larvae (which are actually fungus gnat larvae) hang sticky silk threads and glow blue to lure insects toward their sticky traps.
A large desert locust swarm can contain up to 80 million insects per square kilometre, cover hundreds of square kilometres, and consume 100 tonnes of crops in a single day.
The trap-jaw ant snaps its mandibles shut at over 230 km/h (145 mph), making it one of the fastest movements in the animal kingdom — it also uses this snap to launch itself into the air to escape predators.
Earwigs are unusually caring insect mothers — they guard their eggs for weeks, turning them to prevent mould, and continue to protect their young after hatching.
Spiders cannot see well, but they can feel every vibration in their web with extraordinary precision — they can even tell the size and location of trapped prey from the pattern of vibrations alone.
The Namib desert darkling beetle collects water from morning fog by standing on a dune facing the wind — water droplets condense on bumps on its back and run down into its mouth.
Scientists have trained honeybees to recognise symbols representing addition and subtraction, suggesting their tiny brains (with less than a million neurons) are capable of basic numerical operations.