Hello classmates! Elephant Dad, I'm going to tell you the story of insects again.
The last time we talked about the citrus butterfly, it can dress up as a lump of bird when it is a child, and when it grows up, it can also disguise itself as a small snake, which is really amazing.
However, today I will also talk about a super camouflage master, whose kung fu is much more powerful than that of citrus butterflies. Who the hell is that?
What a bug this is, it's so strange! Thin and long, the same color as the bark, and the same small spines as the bark, it is like a walking branch! And the way it walks is really fun, shaking and shaking, is it drunk?
This "drunkard" is called a stick worm. In fact, the stick insect is a general term for a large class of insects, this type of insect is basically a master of camouflage, and the stick insect you see in the video is one of them.
Then you must be thinking: the body disguised as a branch I can understand, how to walk slowly? Is it really drunk?
In fact, this is also part of the disguise of the stick insect.
Usually we see the branches of the tree, the wind will shake with the wind, and this stick insect not only has to look like a branch, but also imitates the way the branches are blown by the wind in action, shaking and shaking, even when climbing on people, they can't change this habit, this "actor" is simply full of drama.
Not only the branches, but also many stick insects can also imitate the leaves. Imitating leaves is not enough, in order to make themselves look more realistic, they pretend to be leaves as if they have been chewed by other insects. You look at the leaf below that has been chewed on a few bites, can you imagine that this is a stick worm?
The two kinds of stick insects just mentioned are really too powerful, and this acting skill, god-like, can simply take the Oscar of the insect world!
But the above two are still a little worse than the stick insects I want to talk about below.
Before I talk about how powerful this stick insect is, I want to tell you a story of seeds and ants! After telling this story, you can know how good this bamboo worm is at acting.
Some plants are particularly clever and allow ants to carry seeds and spread their offspring far away to take root. These tiny ants, up to 180 meters away, can carry seeds up to the length of two football fields.
You're sure to be full of questions:
Why do ants work tirelessly to help plants carry seeds?
In fact, ants are not thankless in doing so. If you look closely, you can find a raised round beanie on these seeds, which scientists call oleite.
The oleosome is too tempting for ants, it is simply a delicious "cake", both delicious and nutritious. Such a delicious thing, of course, to take home to share with friends. So the ants dragged the seeds home with them.
Don't look at the ants eating the oleites on the seeds, in fact, these plants are finally benefited. If you think about it, ants carry seeds with "cake" into the nest, who dares to steal the seeds from the nest? That's a dead end.
So these seeds rely on a little bit of oleace, and let the ants act as their own porters and bodyguards, which is really too clever.
After the story of ants and seeds is over, do you feel strange:
There seems to be no stick worm or anything in it?
Don't worry, you look at the picture below and guess what it is. You're sure to say, these are the seeds with oleosomy bodies!
I tell you, these are the eggs of stick worms!
Not only does the swollen egg look like a seed, but there is also a bulge on the egg shell that looks particularly like a "cake" that ants like to eat, that is, an oleosome.
If you think about it, when ants are looking for food, they see the "cake" on the eggs of the bamboo stick worm, and they must be happily bringing these eggs back to their nests without saying a word. As a result, the eggs of the stick insects, like the seeds of plants, are protected by ants.
I really didn't expect that although those plants are smart, they still have to give ants a little benefit before they can move seeds for you as a bodyguard. This stick insect did not cost anything, and it deceived the ants by means of camouflage.
However, the "cake" on the egg shell of the stick insect is fake after all, so will the egg of the stick insect be brought back to the nest and will it be filled?
If there is no dew filling, how can the small stick insect escape from the nest after hatching?
To learn more about the secrets of ants and stick insects, let's look forward to tomorrow's insect stories!
In fact, some bugs are very scary. I grew up not afraid of any bugs, just cockroaches. A cockroach can make a big fuss in the room and make me jump. Holding the slippers and trying to shoot it to death, but not daring to go near it, it is really scary.
However, around us, in nature, there are still many, many very interesting insects! Even the disgusting-looking cockroaches still have many amazing secrets waiting for us to discover!
If you think bugs are disgusting and don't understand them, don't observe them, you may miss many surprising and interesting stories. And when you really start exploring the insect kingdom on your own, you will find that even the most ordinary bugs have a way to survive that you are amazed.
Well, that's it for today, goodbye!