COOL BUG FACTS
Bugs are so cool and yet we know so little about them. Here are just a handful of cool things we do know about bugs.

• The weight of all Americans is less than one fiftieth of the insects, earthworms, and spiders in the United States.

• Insects date back to over 300 million years!

• Based on various sampling, the total number of insect species is between 15 and 30 million.

• Some female cockroaches are devoted mothers, carrying their offspring in little pouches like kangaroos. One species even nourishes her young in the uterus with a milk rich in protein, carbohydrates, and fat.

• Out of the 4000 known species of cockroach only 20 types are classified as pests.

• Mother Dung Beetles tenderly care for their young by cleaning away toxic molds and fungi off the dung balls where her larva lives and feasts.

• A cockroach’s head will live and respond for at least 12 hours after the animal has been decapitated.

• The exoskeleton of a scorpion, made of chitin, reflects back ultraviolet rays and will glow pink or green under the moonlight or a black light. Fossilized scorpions still glow under ultraviolet after 300 million years.

• Spanish Flies are not flies and do not make good aphrodisiacs. They are beetles and the only thing they produce is a toxic chemical called cantharidin that is recommended for little more than the treatment of warts.

• Scorpions can live for more than a year without eating.

• All insects are bugs but not all bugs are insects. An Insect has three body parts; a head, thorax, and abdomen. Insects have six legs and two antennae. Spiders and Scorpions have eight legs and are not considered insects. Got it?

• Mites and Ticks are Arachnids (they have eight legs) and are related to the Spider and Scorpion.

• Scientists believe the Mayfly is the most primitive present-day insect around. These insects are the most popular models for artificial flies.

WEIRD BUG FACTS

• Flies use their feet to taste. They step on the food, if it tastes good – they sip it up!

• Mosquitoes don’t have noses. They smell with long feelers on their head called antennae. They can smell food, danger, and other mosquitoes.

• Grasshoppers and most insects breathe air through tiny holes in their sides.

• An ant can live without its head for a month! Its head and main brain are used to eat only. Ants have “mini-brains” in their bodies for walking, flying, laying eggs,etc.

• Crickets hear with their knees! The flat part on their knees work like our eardrums.

• Insects are much stronger than we are, for their size. Ants can lift a crumb 50 times heavier than itself. If you were that strong, you could carry a ton of bricks!

• A flea can jump 13 inches. If you could do that, you could jump over the length of two football fields!

• Cockroaches can run about 2 ½ miles an hour. If you could run at the same rate, you would be running at 130 miles per hour!

• Dragonflies have been clocked flying at 30 miles per hour.

• The human ear can hear a noisy male cicada (locust) over a mile away.

• One of the heaviest insects is the Goliath Beetle of Africa. Adults can be over ¼ lb.

• The smallest insect is the fairy fly. It is only 1/100 of an inch long. It can fly through the eye of a needle!

• One of the longest living insects is the queen termite. Some live over 50 years!

• One flea lived for nearly 6 years in a lab without eating!

• Caterpillars can only live a few hours without eating.

• Cockroaches can’t walk backwards.

• Experts use the blowfly’s eggs and maggots to decide the time of death of animals or humans. The results have been used as evidence in court cases!

• The tiny rat flea was responsible for over 40 million deaths in Europe in the 1300’s.

• Mosquitoes can’t open their mouths. Their mouth has 6 long, hollow needles. One needle drips saliva to keep the blood flowing. The other five needles suck it up. The saliva causes the itchy red bump we call a mosquito bite.

• Amazon ants catch other kinds of ants and make them slaves!

• When attacked, the bombardier beetle spews a foul smelling, boiling hot poison from its rear end. Under the right conditions, the acid may even cause a flame!

• Dung beetles live their whole life rolling animal dung into balls and burying the balls. They lay eggs in the dung balls and the young eat the dung.