Crickets Hopping to a Menu Near You The chirping sounds are incessant, as piles of brown striped six-legged creatures vie for a little space on Canada’s largest bug farm.  Near Ontario, three brothers are riding the crest of next biggest agricultural wave: bug harvesting. The Goldin brothers run Next Millenium Farms, about two hours north of Ontario. Crickets are one...

Wildlife Encounters: Tips And Precautions For Homeowners If you read bible stories, you may recall one about Noah and the ark where he was depicted to have herded various forms of wildlife onboard his boat in anticipation of a great flood. Fast forward to today and biologists of the Texas Parks and Wildlife department warn citizens that such dangerously close...

New Insect Has Crossed the Border -- Twice South Texas is more than a port of entry for more than human life; it is also guarded for the entry of insects. For that reason, Texas A&M and other universities are always on the lookout for new bug species – and another one has reared its tiny, ugly head. This creature...

Tragic Death by Bee Sting in Texas As often occurs with freak accidents, this incident really could have happened to anyone. The bees were living inside a pipe, eighteen inches in diameter, and the gigantic hive was completely hidden from view. The man on the tractor could not have known what was nesting there when he collided with it. The...

Even Ants Have Slackers Among insects, ants and bees have the reputation as the hardest working.  In fact, in both species, there is even the special name “worker” to designate this role. Any casual observer will confirm that ants always seem to be working.  Yet research from the biology department at the University of Arizona shows that some ants do...

New Defense Against Sheep Parasite May Be Possible The genome of the blowfly has been mapped by a team of researchers from University of Melbourne and Baylor college, with significant funding from Australian Wool Innovation. This little pest is responsible for high costs to sheep ranchers, because maggots from the blowfly will invade open wounds in the hoofed animals, causing...

Fruit Flies Reveal How Insect Resistance Evolves New research that explores how the gene for resistance to DDT functions in fruit flies has implications for pesticide development. The investigation centers on a type of “sexually antagonistic” gene that increases female resistance but decreases male hardiness when encountering DDT. Females do better than males when exposed to DDT, causing Drosophilia to...

Stag Beetles Losing Habitat in Britain They are the largest insect in the UK, the famous black to dark brown, antlered creature known as the “stag beetle.” In recent years, their range of territory throughout southern England has remained stable, but their numbers are falling. As with other insects, like honeybees and butterflies in the U.S., the beetles have lost...

Trail Cam Shows Raccoon Mother Rescuing Lost Cubs Taking on foster kids is a big job, but humans are not the only creatures willing to reach out to needy youngsters. It turns out raccoons, as revealed by a night-time trail camera, are capable of acts of altruism as well. The trail cam is positioned to catch videos of wildlife, and...

Carnivorous Plants Choose Their Bug Meals In swamps and wetlands around the world a fascinating variety of flora known as carnivorous plants flourish. The most famous is probably the Venus-Fly Trap, know for its penchant to lure, trap and consume the – you guessed it – Venus Fly. Research on pollinating insects has uncovered an interesting fact about carnivores –...

Whisteblower Keeps the Mice Away Video of mice crawling on the floor, scurrying across the grill, and hopping through the soda dispenser caught the eye of Channel 2 Action News in Atlanta, Georgia.  These mice had made a home in a local restaurant, called the Krystal, and weren’t showing any signs of moving on. A whistleblower, who remains unidentified, easily...

Professional Gives Tips on How to Choose Pest Control We who own homes spend much of our free time maintaining our space to prolong the value of the house and keep ourselves (and family members) comfortable.  Even if you are a diehard do-it-yourselfer, pest management is a task most people contract with a professional. Typically, homeowners call the exterminator only...

California Drought Brings Bugs In Its Wake Los Angeles is currently listed as the second “buggiest” city in the nation.  Although its dense urban environment has always been a harbinger for bugs, the severe drought that is plaguing California is making matters worse. Under normal conditions the rainy season (typically winter) wipes out a percentage of bug hatchlings.  With permanently...

Venomous Spiders: The Ten Most Dreaded Recognize them, understand them and avoid them. Ten:  Yellow Sac Spider Inflicts a bite that resembles the horrific MRSA infection.  The actual toxicity of this spider’s venom isn’t settled, but in some instances it causes necrotic tissue.  Rarely attacks humans. Nine: Fringed Ornamental Tarantula This variety has large fangs, and a nasty venomous bite. ...

Mosquitoes Only Need a Smidge of Water How can mosquitoes breed in such great numbers with barely any water?  Well, turns out they really only need half an inch of water, and that’s not much on a human scale. Twenty five hundred species of mosquitoes have been identified around the world. They prefer to lay eggs in stagnant water, letting...

Your Tiny Houseguests:  A Primer We do not live in sterile environments, despite advances in technology.  Our urban ecosystems include a whole host of not-so-exotic creatures that share our space.  Rodents, insects, spiders and microscopic entities share our couches, our kitchens and our bedrooms.  Many of them live because we are their best food source. Mice and rats are especially...

Crazy Ants Possess Crazy Defense Against Fire Ants The Crazy Ant was discovered in the U.S. near Houston in the town of Pasadena, TX back in 2002 by an exterminator named Tom Rasberry. This breed is now officially named the “Rasberry Crazy Ant” but isn’t a new species; they have long inhabited South America and have been migrating north. Their...

Talented Moths Show Researchers How to Hover Animals are often studied to shed light on the origin of physical skills, such as the efficiency with which a cockroach scurries or the sonar-guided flight of bats.  One engineering feat that has always been admired by humans is the ability to hover in flight.  We have built machines that do this fairly...

Scorpion Venom as Antidote to Cancer, Parkinson’s? The venom the scorpion is being studied in Colima, Mexico, as a possible means to stem the growth of cancer cells and provide a boost in dopamine for Parkinson’s sufferers. Native to Mexico, the Centruroides tecomanus is the species of scorpion being investigated at University of Colima. Researchers have isolated about one hundred...

In the Life of Acrobatic Ants Ants have long been known to share an important trait with humans: adaptation.  New research on a variety of ants called “trap jaw” shows the remarkable ability to have adapted a predatory weapon (the “trap jaw”) as an escape tool as well. Because of the way their jaws snap shut with great speed (for...