Further Thoughts on Bugs

I keep trying to show bugs in a positive light. As I do internet and library research to back up my observations, I run into some really frustrating situations, First, just about every bug I "google" results in dozens of websites for exterminators or advice on how to get rid of bugs. Some of these are about totally harmless bugs and are based only on the perception that they are ugly. Others contain lots of erroneous information. Then I find some wonderful illustrated children's books about bugs that have titles like "Creepy Crawlies." One web definition of 'creepy crawly' I found is "something, as a crawling insect or spider, regarded as frightening and repugnant." I found a wonderful illustrated "Field Guide to the Slug" which could lead one to appreciate slugs for their intriguing variety and their interesting natural histories, but the author starts by calling them ugly.
I have a great video called "Way Cool Creepy Crawlies" which all my students have loved. I guess the phrase "way cool" helps offset the usual stereotype of "creepy crawlies." I highly recommend that you track down this video. It is wonderful! Two memorable scenes - first, a scene of two slugs mating, very slowly, with opera music in the background, and, second, an amazing scene of a dung beetle pushing a ball of dung, bigger than itself, toward its hole. The dung gets stuck on a thorn and the valiant effort of the beetle to free the dung ball from the thorn is truly inspiring.
Years ago I had a small group of students/fans who went on an expedition with me to a High Sierra meadow near Eagle Lake. Each student was charged with proposing a research project about some aspect of this environment that could be accomplished in a week. The meadow was quite crowded with piles of cattle dung in all stages of drying out and decomposing. The students dubbed them "meadow muffins," then later called our group The Meadow Muffins. One student took up the study of scatology and discovered that a predictable series of insects and other invertebrates invade the dung heaps as they dry out. Certain species, like flies, arrive when the dung is still fresh and wet. As it dries out other species find it appealing and/or come to attack or parasitize the early arrivals. This process could go on for several weeks and the sequence is always nearly the same until the dung is totally gone - some, of course, being cut into little spheres and rolled into the holes of dung beetles. This was a wonderful study of ecology, but when the student made his presentation at the end-of-the-week show-and-tell, no one believed he was serious or that such a study had actually been done. I cherish the poster I've had all these years on which the students printed a song they secretly wrote during the week and dedicated to me called "The Ballad of the Meadow Muffins." They also made a huge banner and hung it on the side of my VW van that read "Meadow Muffin Mobile." So, if your child is lucky enough to get curious about piles of cow poop, don't mock or otherwise discourage him/her. You may have a future scatologist on your hands. Further adventures in bugology and scatology coming soon. Remember, you can click on any photo for a larger view.