GGA Blog

Up till recently the only mosquitos known to be capable of transmitting the Zika virus were species that prefer warmer, tropical climates. However, scientists just discovered that a much more prevalent mosquito species in the U.S. called Culex tarsalis

There are some pretty hardcore animals in this world, but I have never heard of an animal that wears bones on its body. Except, of course, for the Uraba Lugens, a type of caterpillar that, at some point, discovered that wearing the bones of dead insects would work as an effective method of self-defense

A man by the name of Jerry Butler, an entomologist, somehow managed to get a male Horsefly to fly after a pellet shot from a pellet gun. Amazingly the Horsefly was able to catch up to the pellet after it was shot from a gun. The pellet was traveling at 145 kilometers per hour, which means that the male Horsefly can travel at least that fast.

Most insects do not live past a year, and there are plenty that do not make it past a couple of weeks. However, there are some insects that can live for decades

Learn more about the Weatherbeeta Supa Fly Insect Shield for horses and how it can protect your animals from annoying and harmful flying pests.

Well not exactly like the electronic GPS that we are all aware of, but cockroaches do have a sophisticated internal mechanism that allows them to navigate your home. Researchers placed cockroaches inside of a maze similar to the classic experiments that used rats to navigate mazes. Once the roaches moved through the maze the researchers changed parts of the maze to see if roaches would remember where to find the end of the maze. What the researchers found was that roaches would move to the same parts of the maze that accessed the end of the maze despite the maze being changed. This finding indicates that roaches did not rely solely on present sensory information, but they were able to recall how to navigate their environment from earlier experience. Additionally, the researchers monitored the brain activity of the roaches and discovered that the roaches have a complex neural mechanism similar to rats and even humans that allows them to navigate through complex environments. This may explain why roaches are so hard to find once we find our bug spray. Do you think that all animals, even small brained animals, possess similar neural structures that allow them to navigate complex environments?

A Jumping Spider is not your typical spider. For one thing they are not in need of web-building to catch their prey. In fact, the majority of spiders that do rely on web-spinning to catch prey only rely on the web because web-spinning spiders lack the necessary visual acuity to spontaneously pounce onto their prey from across the room. Most spiders are only able to eat their prey as long as their prey is stationary, or caught in a web. However, the jumping spider does pounce on their prey from across a room and they rely on this method of hunting because jumping spiders possess eyesight that is far superior to other spiders.

Water fleas have the unique ability to grow defensive armor

The Giant Redheaded Centipede looks just like its name would you lead you to think. They are found in Australia (of course) as well as parts of the southwestern United States. I am sure you have seen centipedes before, but this particular centipede can reach lengths measuring twenty centimeters in length, and can have as many as twenty three pairs of legs.