All of a sudden it is colder. A lot colder. I was thinking about the positives of having a deep freeze in the winter. Bugs die.
Florida residents worry that a warm winter will mean a lot of insects the rest of the year. If we lived year-round in warmer climates we would have to attend to our bugs. Not like here - we can swat and squash them away. They are small and bothersome, but not particularly worrisome? Well we do have a big insect here. It is the Praying Mantis. It is up to 18 cm or 7 inches long - that was in 1929 in China. Somehow we consider them gentle insects.
Praying Mantis are not in the same category as Beetles with those huge pincers. They can be up to 17 cm and 6.7 inches long,and they look fierce - there's the Hercules and the Macrodontia cervicornis, Titan, Giant longhorn, Actaeon, Atlas and the Elephant. They are the size of a large hand. I wouldn't step on one of those, would you? Likely to reach out and grab my foot. There's more. What about the insects like cockroaches? And there are enormous flies, hornets, wasps, and of course spiders.
The fear of insects and spiders is common among humans. A general wariness around bugs is normal. Maybe that explains a good deal of our wariness behaviour.There are 10 quintillion insects on earth. And Scientists say we have both a fear and a disgust for insects.
So I ponder our weather growing colder, as I conclude this article on the "Biggest" insects. At the bottom (of course) are more headlines and pictures. There is a scary story of a different sort: "Donald Trump's Makeup Free Face..." There are 2 pictures one without makeup and then one with a shiny orange face with hair dyed match. The article says the pictures have been fact-checked and confirmed authentic. Which seems more unreal? Insects 7 inches long or a former US President with orange makeup and hair? I realized that I have an innate fear and disgust of an orange President.
This picture came from Cuba at the Che Guevara memorial. The stone walls were embedded with shell and coral fossils. They made beautiful patterns and abstract images.
