While we love butterflies, bees, hummingbirds, and bats (here’s the proof),
some pollinators might feel a little sad that they are not better
known. But now is their moment of glory! We want to celebrate some of
these unique species and help broaden the pollination conversation.
Lizards, Geckos, and Skinks
In Tasmania, a snow skink only found there seems to have a visible
co-evolutionary relationship with Richea scoparia plants (shown at the
top of post). It is only after the skinks tear off part of the flower
and eat them that insects can access the parts of the flowers used for
pollination.
Mosquitoes
Not all mosquitoes feed on blood. Only the females feed on blood, and
only when they are producing eggs. Male mosquitoes feed exclusively on
plant nectar, sometimes serving as vectors for pollen transmission.
Cockroaches
Yes, cockroaches! Are you excited? While it’s admittedly a new area of
research, pollination relationships between cockroaches and plants were
discovered in three countries around the world, with the latest being in Chile.
A wingless cockroach (Catara rugosicollis) in Malaysia, one of the three
places (so far) where pollination relationships between cockroaches and
some plants are documented…
“I respect [insect/spider/thing] outdoors but IN MY HOME IT DESERVES DEATH” is one of the most common responses I see in regard to treating tiny creatures with respect and it’s just really sad people fall back on that so eagerly to excuse what’s still completely senseless destruction.
A bedbug or a tick or something else that wants your blood, sure, that makes sense, but a spider wandering into your house is still minding its own business hunting flies and crickets. It doesn’t know this big cave “belongs” to an animal that arbitrarily hates it for being there, and no, spiders do not just climb into your bed and bite you in your sleep.
The vast majority of flies, moths, beetles and anything else that small that ends up in your house actively *does not want* to be in such a place because it’s doomed to starve or dehydrate. Others are just trying to come in from the cold, and even if it’s your food they’re after, they don’t know that it’s “your” food. They especially don’t know that it upsets you for something 1/1000th your size to take a bite of that food; most other big animals don’t care, so they have no reason to be cautious of it.
People talk like it’s some kind of delinquency to be punished or something. It feels kinda more like reaching for a justification to enjoy a tiny moment of socially acceptable sadism.
Do what you really have to do to protect yourself from a deadly allergy or something but don’t be an asshole to something just because it made a wrong turn it can’t even comprehend.
Look at this face:
People honestly need to have more compassion for little ones who are visiting.
Education is a huge key to fixing this though! I’ve found that the more information about insects and arachnids you share with others, the more they start to understand that these are living creatures that deserve respect.
What about cockroaches? I’m mixed about them because they are quite cute.
A heavy population of roaches in a house can trigger asthma, and in theory, harbor some dangerous bacteria as their waste builds up. It’s usually only German cockroaches that get “severe” though (the tiny ones) while many other roaches have smaller, less intrusive populations. Larger species like American and Oriental roaches prefer moist conditions, so their presence is more often a symptom of rot or they, too, are just coming in from outside.
The risk of disease from roaches is pretty much highly exaggerated, as they can only pick up disease from their immediate environment. In a relatively clean house, the roaches will be fairly sanitary as well!
The really sad thing about “pest” cockroaches is that they evolved to be beneficial to us. They originally come from caves, where their scavenging habits would have made conditions comparatively cleaner and safer for other, larger animals living there. It’s only in the artificially sterile environment of a modern human house that they become a “contamination” themselves, and seldom even encounter the many predators that would have controlled them in a natural cave.
Most species of cockroach, though, just aren’t cave or house dwellers either way. A lot of people mistakenly think they’ve got a roach problem when they’re just seeing “forest” roaches who, once again, got lost like so many other creatures in the wrong place, and would rather be back outside!
Anyway here’s what I think is the most beautiful roach, Polyzosteria mitchelli:
Also note that roaches experience something a lot like friendship
If you have bugs (including if your indoor pets often get fleas), you most likely have cracks. If you have cracks, you’re wasting energy to heat/cool the outdoors. Keeping the bugs out will also drive down your energy bill. If you have a really bad bug problem, like we did, your energy bill may go down by fifty percent or more when you seal.
Go around your house and find where you see little gaps between your walls and ceiling or floor, and around doors and windows. You may see a lot of insects around these areas, or you may see spiders or spiderwebs. Seal these cracks, then sand and paint over the sealant.
(Hagrid was right: follow the spiders. Once you’ve sealed the bugs’ favorite gaps, the spiders will tell you where their next favorite gaps are.)
A few (well, in our case, a few dozen) cans of foam sealant can transform a leaky, bug-filled nightmare into a livable space.
“I respect [insect/spider/thing] outdoors but IN MY HOME IT DESERVES DEATH” is one of the most common responses I see in regard to treating tiny creatures with respect and it’s just really sad people fall back on that so eagerly to excuse what’s still completely senseless destruction.
A bedbug or a tick or something else that wants your blood, sure, that makes sense, but a spider wandering into your house is still minding its own business hunting flies and crickets. It doesn’t know this big cave “belongs” to an animal that arbitrarily hates it for being there, and no, spiders do not just climb into your bed and bite you in your sleep.
The vast majority of flies, moths, beetles and anything else that small that ends up in your house actively *does not want* to be in such a place because it’s doomed to starve or dehydrate. Others are just trying to come in from the cold, and even if it’s your food they’re after, they don’t know that it’s “your” food. They especially don’t know that it upsets you for something 1/1000th your size to take a bite of that food; most other big animals don’t care, so they have no reason to be cautious of it.
People talk like it’s some kind of delinquency to be punished or something. It feels kinda more like reaching for a justification to enjoy a tiny moment of socially acceptable sadism.
Do what you really have to do to protect yourself from a deadly allergy or something but don’t be an asshole to something just because it made a wrong turn it can’t even comprehend.
Look at this face:
People honestly need to have more compassion for little ones who are visiting.
Education is a huge key to fixing this though! I’ve found that the more information about insects and arachnids you share with others, the more they start to understand that these are living creatures that deserve respect.
What about cockroaches? I’m mixed about them because they are quite cute.
A heavy population of roaches in a house can trigger asthma, and in theory, harbor some dangerous bacteria as their waste builds up. It’s usually only German cockroaches that get “severe” though (the tiny ones) while many other roaches have smaller, less intrusive populations. Larger species like American and Oriental roaches prefer moist conditions, so their presence is more often a symptom of rot or they, too, are just coming in from outside.
The risk of disease from roaches is pretty much highly exaggerated, as they can only pick up disease from their immediate environment. In a relatively clean house, the roaches will be fairly sanitary as well!
The really sad thing about “pest” cockroaches is that they evolved to be beneficial to us. They originally come from caves, where their scavenging habits would have made conditions comparatively cleaner and safer for other, larger animals living there. It’s only in the artificially sterile environment of a modern human house that they become a “contamination” themselves, and seldom even encounter the many predators that would have controlled them in a natural cave.
Most species of cockroach, though, just aren’t cave or house dwellers either way. A lot of people mistakenly think they’ve got a roach problem when they’re just seeing “forest” roaches who, once again, got lost like so many other creatures in the wrong place, and would rather be back outside!
Anyway here’s what I think is the most beautiful roach, Polyzosteria mitchelli:
Also note that roaches experience something a lot like friendship
WHAAAAAAT THATS SO COOL HOW DOES HE DO THAT! ITS JUST A BUG BUT IT LIGHTS UP
it had never even occurred to my that there were parts of this planet where lightning bugs are not indigenous
It’s called bioluminescence, and it basically works on the same principle as glow sticks, but with biologically produced proteins and enzymes, instead of lab produced chemicals.
In this particular case, lightning bugs (aka fireflies) use it to communicate between males and females during mating season – sorta like a visual Morse code.
Urocyon's Jaunts 2.0 
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