Summer-time is click beetle time! Any child, cat, or dog could tell you that. My cat Buster could be entertained by a click beetle all day. Boing! Another click beetle springs into the air.
I am often asked if it’s possible for a human to learn how to spring high into the air from a prone position, like a click beetle. To get an answer to this question, send a check for $50 and a self-addressed stamped envelope… (that’ll be enough of that!).
Today was the 77th annual Inchworm Rodeo at Pongo City, Kentucky–but I couldn’t possibly write it up until I get a bigger audience. Suffice it to say that the Living Legend of Inchworm Rodeo fully lived up to expectations, and the unimaginable calamity that befell last year’s Inchworm Rodeo was not repeated.
Oh, well. Maybe tomorrow. If the numbers are good. Inchworm Rodeo only comes once a year, and I wouldn’t want to waste it.
Hi, Mr. Nature here, with more of God’s stuff.
Cats and kids love these–click beetles: the “elater,” to crossword puzzle fans. When the beetle winds up on its back, which seems to happen often, it “clicks” straight up into the air in hopes of landing on its feet. They’ll keep trying till they get it right.
Their larvae are a pest, but the adult beetles are harmless and entertaining, if you like insect acrobatics.
Just another little detail of Creation…
Think of it–just 53 more hits on this blog, and I’ll have made 6,000 views for the month of February, which is two days short.
Now, do you see that fascinating insect up there? I am assured that I am in the running to win it as a prize! Mr. Nature says it’s some kind of cricket. Joe Collidge says it’s his ex-roommate. Well, who cares what it is? It’s a prize!
Round up your friends and send ’em over here tonight: almost four hours left to go.
Who knows? You, too, might be a lucky winner. Of a cool big bug.
Hi, Mr. Nature here with some more of God’s stuff: the velvet ant, aka “Cow Killer.” And before you get too cross with the guy who made this video, let me reassure you that it has a happy ending.
The velvet ant is actually a wingless wasp, not a real ant; and it has a stinger that would do any wasp proud. You would be extremely well advised not to pick one up in your bare hand. When you see the size of that sticker, you’ll understand how this bug got its nickname. It can’t actually kill a cow, but you don’t want to mess with it.
Cow killers live down South, and some of you are sure to be familiar with them. They prey on smaller bugs and otherwise do no harm. And you have to admit they have a nice color scheme.
There’s more to Creation than we will ever know.
Hi, Mr. Nature here–with a male dobsonfly that has seen better days, but still looks scary.
Legend has it that this insect got its name from a Mrs. Hortense Dobson, who discovered one inside her jump suit and invented several energetic dances while trying to get it out.
When I was 12 years old or so, I found a box on the ground with an enormous dobsonfly in it. You don’t forget that!
Despite their fearsome appearance, these critters are completely harmless and their larvae, called helgrammites, are highly esteemed as fish bait. The larvae look even scarier than the adults.
Isn’t Creation wonderful? God never runs out of ideas.