Sexual Cannibalism (Ooh Scandalous and Saucy)

So I found a praying mantis egg case and doing all the research on it made me think of praying mantis reproduction. The female eats the male while they’re mating. I thought this was kind of interesting so I decided to do a little more research into this praying mantis style (scandalous).  This is called sexual cannibalism, which is when the female eats her mate before, during, or after mating. This act is most commonly practiced by some arachnid and insect families. Scientists don’t exactly know why this occurs but they have a few hypotheses. Some believe that a hungry female will find a less than suitable mate, court with him, and pretty much trick him so she can eat him because she finds him more suitable as a meal than as a partner. Another hypothesis is male monogamy. He sacrifices himself to the female to be eaten in order to ensure reproductive success and can never mate with another female ever again because he’s dead. It’s kind of sweet in a sick and twisted way. Some males are smart and sneaky. They distract the female with gifts of food before mating with her or go ahead and mate while she is distracted. Some males exhibit a behavior called mate binding in which the male “massages” the female by depositing silk onto her abdomen to calm her down. These males may seem dumb to us but sacrificing themselves is kind of smart. If the female eats the male during mating, his parts are most likely going to be stuck in her parts. This makes it harder for her to mate again. Also, she is well fed so the male’s genetics are ensured to the babies and his work is done.  Sexual cannibalism is weird and kind of awful, but it’s pretty interesting.

Bug Babies are Tough!

So like the title says, bug babies are tough. Like really tough. Let’s talk about caterpillars and cocoons. First of all, some caterpillars are poisonous. Like whoa! I totally didn’t know that! I thought they were all just cute, fuzzy, and looking for leaves to chew on. Nope. Those fuzzy little hairs will sting you. Their cocoons are strong too! I thought they were going to be flimsy, leafy, and easy to break open. I was so wrong. They’re super strong and pretty hard. I dropped one on the concrete and it still didn’t open! The galls of the goldenrod fly are also super strong. I tried to crack one open and couldn’t get it. I attempted to open the gall with a shoe, a knife, and a hammer but I couldn’t open it without destroying the fly larvae inside. In the end I had to chip away for about thirty minutes in order to open it. Those galls are tough and the goldenrod parents have done their best to ensure that their baby matures to adult age so that they can mate and have their own babies. Speaking of bug parents that do a lot for their babies, let’s talk about the parasitic wasp. This wasp lays her eggs into a caterpillar, thus making the poor caterpillar into a nursery and all you can eat buffet for the babies. This wasp has ensured the survival of her babies by taking advantage of another insect! It’s a dog eat dog world. Or a wasp larva eat caterpillar world. Praying mantis babies also have a pretty tough egg case or ootheca if you want to sound extra smart and scientific. The mother mantis puts her eggs into this egg case which is made from a frothy mass secreted from her abdomen. Bug babies are more prepared for the world than we think!

Final Impressions

Well, I came into the class very terrified of insects. I wanted to kill anything that happened to stumble into my house and would not have hesitated to zap the life out of any bug unfortunate enough to cross my path. After taking this class, I am still freaked out and grossed out by certain bugs, but for the most part I am better prepared to live with them. Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches are kind of cute, and I never would have said this at the beginning of the class. I did not want to hold one at first but now I am more open to holding one. I still refuse with the cockroaches on campus though. They’re gross and ugly. I totally have a new found appreciation for moths. I have totally conquered my fear of them. Before, I thought they were hideous and disgusting. After looking at them under microscopes, pinning them, and working with them, I now see that they are extremely beautiful. I thought moths were just ugly butterflies before but now I would totally pick a moth over a butterfly, hands down. I am still really disgusted and freaked out by anything that is worm like though. Maggots and other larvae are still really creepy, even caterpillars. Prior to this class, I had never seen or touched a cocoon before. Now I see them everywhere! It’s funny how oblivious I was! This class also cleared up a lot of misconceptions I had about bugs. Now I can go back to my family and comfort them with the fact that no one will get cockroach eggs in their tongue by licking envelopes. I now understand that the main reason I was so freaked out by insects was because I didn’t understand them. They are different and different tends to freak people out. People are scared of what they don’t understand.  

DONT GO CHASIN WATERFALLS (we went to see a waterfall)

We went on a fieldtrip today! We took a bus to this place that was about forty five minutes outside of Birmingham. The trail wasn’t bad until we tried to get to this waterfall. It was so scary, like a couple of times I thought I was going to die. I had to keep holding on to trees to keep from falling over. Parts of the trail that probably should’ve had I tried to keep my eyes out for bugs on the way to this waterfall but I didn’t find any.  Anyways, we finally reached the waterfall and it was really cool! There were icicles on the edge of the fall that looked like they could stab and kill a man if they fell. There was ice on the rocks and surrounding the entire bottom of the falls. There was also graffiti on the cave part of the waterfall. I didn’t understand why someone would vandalize this beautiful landscape is beyond me. We explored around while trying not to fall to our deaths into the icy cold water. There weren’t any bugs though. There were a lot of rocks and ice. So we hung out by the waterfall for like fifteen minutes then decided to head back. On the way back there were galls galore! I think the ones I found were Goldenrod Galls. I haven’t opened them yet, but I think I’m going to find two different kinds of insects inside. One is a lot bigger than the other. I also found a praying mantis egg case that was stuck on a pine tree.  I couldn’t use it for my collection because it’s from the same species as the one I already had. Overall it was so much fun and I would totally go back during the summer when the weather is nice and there isn’t ice everywhere!

Fear Factor!!!!!!

So if you've ever seen the reality show Fear Factor, the contestants are forced to do weird things with insects sometimes such as eat them or lie in a coffin with them. Here are some of the things from the past seasons of Fear Factor!

In this video, the contestants are forced to eat Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches, maggots, and grasshoppers. Ew!!!!! First of all, they're alive. They aren't cooked or anything. Like that would seriously bother me. All the choices are disgusting, but I would be more okay with the grasshoppers and cockroaches than the maggots. They're crunchy, but the maggots are squishy, slimy, and gross. Ugh. And what if something pinched/stung me while I was trying to eat it?! Then what?!

Okay, so in this next clip this lady has all these insects and tarantulas dumped on her. I'd rather deal with this than eating bugs, but it's still scary. I would be scared mainly for health reasons. What if I was bitten by something? What if a roach went up my nose or stuck in my ear? I don't think I would be freaked out that much about the tarantulas. They're fuzzy and kind of cute. I'd rather deal with a tarantula than a roach any day. The aftermath of completing the task would bother me more than the actual task itself. I feel paranoid and as if insects were still crawling on me. That would really freak me out more than the bugs themselves.

So this next clip isn't from the actual show but it's still good. The contestants are asked to kiss a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach to move on to the next round. Some have more trouble completing the tasks than others. Prior to this class, I would have been one of the kids freaking out and screaming but now I think I could get through this with a little less pain. They're sort of cute and now that I know that the hissing cockroach won't eat people, I'm okay with them.

EATING BUGS THOUGH

I think going outside and picking up a bug like “oh I’m just going to snack on this today” is what grosses a lot of people out. It’s kind of like just going outdoors and picking up something random and eating it. People think it’s nasty because it’s just chilling out in nature. Also, people usually associate bugs with uncleanliness and being unsanitary, so that’s another reason why folks are very willing to snack on them. Before this class, I didn’t know that crustaceans and insects were in the same phylum. This is weird because I am totally okay with chowing down on shrimp, crabs, and lobsters, but the thought of eating a caterpillar or a dragonfly makes me want to puke. I thought about people freaking out about eating bugs and not freaking out about seafood again when we were reading about the dragonfly larvae tasting about crawfish. I LOVE CRAWFISH, but I would never ever eat dragonfly larvae without some serious peer pressure or unless I was starving. Even though we eat a lot of bugs unknowingly each year, I think it’s the fact that we don’t have to see the actual insect in whole form that makes people okay with this. If I poured a bowl of cereal and found a dead roach just chilling in the bowl, I would freak out and throw the whole box away as would most people. If a roach fell into the cereal at the factory and got mushed up into a million different pieces, I’d probably still eat the cereal. I’d take a roach leg over a whole roach any day. If I had to eat a bug I would either want them fried, covered in chocolate, or both. I couldn’t handle anything worm like. The insect would have to be crunchy like a grasshopper or an ant or something of that nature.

Nope! (http://www.pozible.com/uploads/09-2012/1348270164.jpg)

I might eat these. They look like little pastries from Starbucks or something.