Saturday, July 5, 2014

Bugs And Their Paid Babysitters...!



Sometimes mother nature puts us to shame as far as forming partnerships.

Often these can be very surprising, and can almost stagger the imagination. I'm thinking that we might learn a thing or two from these mutually beneficial team-ups.

Stick Insects Pay Ants To Be Babysitters

07
Photo credit: Peter Chew

In a strange symbiotic breeding relationship, certain stick insect species lay eggs that resemble seeds sought by roving groups of ants. The ants pick up the eggs and carry them into their own colonies, protecting them from predatory wasps, fire, heat, drought, and numerous other threats to their viability and survival. In return, the ants remove the capitulum of the egg and feed it to their offspring as a highly nutritious food.
The unlikely relationship between these two insects is a fair bargain. The stick insect eggs suffer little or no harm from the ants removing the edible part. After the capitulum is removed, the ants ignore the eggs, which can then hatch in relative safety.

  I find it interesting that insects can act more civilized at times than many folks I know. That's kinda sad, ya know?

Coffee in the kitchen this morning. Raining again!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting! This is the first time I've heard that both parties gain on things like this.

Have a great day!
Christer.

Chickenmom said...

Pretty neat info, Mr. Hermit! Never knew that! Nice 'n cool here at 56!

Mamahen said...

That is really interesting! As you indicated, we humans should take lessons....51° here this a.m....nice hotmeal will be my breakfast..... anyone care for some ?

JO said...

Always something new to learn here. Of course the pictures leaves a bit to be desired.

We had a nice steady rain here last night that lasted until this morning. I will not complain at all.

I'll take a refill please.

Rob said...

What a system! Thanks for passing that one along...

HermitJim said...

Hey Christer...
Sometimes there is more going on than we know. Who would have thought?

Thanks for coming over, my friend!



Hey Phyllis...
Glad I could find something interesting for ya.

Thanks for dropping in this morning.



Hey Mamahen...
Seems like we could learn from watching them sometimes, that's for sure.

Thanks for stopping by today!



Hey Jo...
I'm glad you finally got some rain.

Blogger has been acting funny about giving me pictures the way I used to load them, so maybe that's why you can't see them. Sorry!

Thanks, sweetie, for coming by today!



Hey Rob...
Seems to work out good for them both.

Thanks for coming over today!

Linda said...

I have heard of these relationships but not this one. How interesting. You always have the most interesting posts.