Fun Facts and More!

FUN FACTS ABOUT INSECTS AND RODENTS!

Here are some unique facts about the insects we deal with on a daily basis:
  • The oldest known fossil of an insect dates back 400 million years and is a springtail.
  • There are about 91,000 different kinds (species) of insects in the United States. 
  • In the world, some 1.5 million different kinds (species) have been named.
  • There are nearly as many species of ants (8,800) as there are species of birds (9,000) in the world.
  • To survive the cold of winter months, many insects replace their body water with a chemical called glycerol, which acts as an "antifreeze" against the temperatures.
  • Wasps feeding on fermenting juice have been known to get "drunk” and pass out.
  • Ants can lift and carry more than fifty times their own weight.
  • Ticks can grow from the size of a grain of rice to the size of a marble.
  • Roaches wear their skeletons on the outside of their bodies.
  • Roach mouths open and close sideways. 
  • Cockroaches have six legs and least 18 knees!!

BEES, WASPS, ANTS, AND MORE

  • Bees do not create honey- they are actually improving nectar.
  • The honey we eat is nectar that bees have repeatedly regurgitated and dehydrated.
  • Bees possess 5 eyes and have 4 wings.
  • A queen can lay 3,000 eggs in a day.
  • Queens can live for up to 2 years.
  • African Weaver Ants can carry prey weighing more than 1000 times their own weight, hauling it back to their nest for food.
  • If a 175-pound human had the comparative strength of an ant, he could lift almost 9,000 pounds.
  • There are nearly 40,000 species of spiders worldwide and about 3,800 in the US.
  • Spiders rarely bite people and only do so as a means of defense.
  • Spiders range in size from small enough to balance comfortably on the tip of a pencil to almost 14 inches in diameter.
  • The average person will encounter some 50 different kinds of spiders in their lifetime. Of those, only about a dozen are capable of piercing the skin with their fangs.
  • Spider silk is the strongest natural fiber known. It's exuded as a liquid and hardens when the spider pulls it, thus aligning the molecular structure. It will stretch up to 1/3 of its original length without breaking.
Close up of a yellow jacket on a leaf