At first glance nature's terrifying landscape filled with indescribable violence perpetrated little monsters and creatures crawling on you at night. But if you look closely, you will discover how beautiful and intricate nature. And even when one of these beautiful creatures will start to crawl on your foot, be sure - it does this on purpose. Sometimes. But sometimes we do not understand is why insects do something or how they came up with such ideas.
10. Synchronous fireflies
If you're used to walk along the river bank Mae Klong in Thailand, you will be able to witness one of the most beautiful paintings in nature - tens of thousands of fireflies flashing in unison. Nobody knows why they do it, it is clear only that the phenomenon is part of the courtship ritual.
But the real mystery is how they synchronize their pulsating glow. This is a localized communication, which is distributed in a swarm like ripples in a pond - if you watch the phenomenon from the beginning, it begins with a few fireflies have found the right rhythm. From this small collective rhythm is transmitted to the rest of the population, as long as they are not in sync flash. What once was chaos, as the machine becomes exact glow.
This behavior has been observed not only in Thai fireflies. Phenomenon seen everywhere, starting with Japan and ending Texas. The only thing we know - behavior applies only to males.
9. Religious procession caterpillars
Hiking silkworms are small brown butterflies living in the pine forests of Europe and Asia. Despite their size, they are among the most destructive pests in the world. Silkworm caterpillars can destroy up to 73 percent of the pine forest in a single generation, and so that the hope of restoring the forest remains.
Caterpillars begin their lives in bags the size of basketballs suspended on the tops of the pines. Despite the fact that at the birth of their length is only 20 millimeters, their jaws are so strong that they can bite solid pine needles. Initially they eat needles from their cocoons common, but when they grow to a certain size, tracks selected from the cocoon in a special way, contributing to their name - they lined up in an even "train" of hundreds of marching caterpillars.
This procession marches on native tree. When they devour your tree caterpillars descend to the ground and move to a new tree. Every night they go camping, and at dawn returned to the cocoon at the top of the tree to sleep and wait until the day is over, and they will again begin to feast.
8. Building traps
Allomerus decemarticulatus - kind of ants living in the Amazon jungle. While most ants are gatherers, picking up food where it is found, the genus Allomerus waits catch will come to them. They build traps of stalks and leaves, and then wait. When an insect falls into one of the traps, ant catches extraction and grabs one of the clutches of the victim. Ant then rests on anything that allows it to keep its prey superior size to 13,000 times.
At the same time an ant sends a signal using pheromones other ants and then that begins the moment the violence. Other ants grab the remaining legs of the insect and pull for them, because of what the insect is "crucified" on the sheet and can not resist until his dismembered. As if that was not enough cruel hunting method, ants make their Allomerus trap so that it is virtually impossible to get - each trap in an ambush on a single sheet to 40 ants are turning leaf in biological minefield. Traps themselves are constructed from natural wood fibers, so that the trap looks like a piece of wood.
7. Growing fungus
Agriculture - is that people can be considered a pastime, a distinctive feature of them. At least, so we thought until the 1970s, when it was discovered that several species of leaf-cutting ants cultivate mushrooms. The fungus is grown in gardens for which neatly groomed ants evolved in a very thoughtful gardeners.
Leaf-cutting ants are known for the way they cut pieces of leaves and bring them back to their colony. But the leaves - it's not the food, in fact, they are used as fertilizer. Ants shed fresh leaves in those parts of the garden where the fungus grows not as active as others. Then ants szhevyvayut weak fungus growths, keeping the enzymes derived from it. In the excrement of ants contains enzymes which when released into the garden, triggered as a catalyst for the expansion of the fresh leaves, which in turn causes the growth of fungus.
But all this is only the beginning to a truly strange behavior: in front of some ants colony task is to walk around the garden and lick the whole fungus. Thus, they spread bacteria-killing harmful fungus that would have destroyed their entire crop. In other words, the ants in charge of agriculture even apply pesticides.
6. Electric navigation
Life is the flower nonstop fierce competition. In the course of evolution, they have acquired a number of signals that attract pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, which should extend their visit and pollen. Each time the bee chooses a particular flower, in fact it can cause the extinction of an entire genetic line. As it turns out, the signals are not limited to colors and fragrances - bumblebees feel weak electric field produced by flowers and with his help choosing the flowers that can provide the best nectar.
Flowers have a positive charge, which acts as a beacon in the mist of charged particles, are constantly flying in the air. However, each flower has a slightly different charge. Bumblebees learn to distinguish between the different electrical voltages and remember, looked like a certain charge, for example, if they loved a certain flower.
Moreover, the charge of the flower changes when he sits on a bee. Charge grows, and then reduced to the original value when the bee flies. This behavior is a bit of a flower label "Busy", on which bees know what they should look for the next plant.
5. Nymph-Troll
During a recent expedition into the rain forest of Suriname in South America, biologists found 60 species previously unknown to science. One of these species may have been a little nymph with a fluffy head, which grew bright, waxy hairs. We say "may" because the team was able to make just one incredible photo larvae before she uprygala away and disappeared. Nymphs are young insects, which are often in adulthood look completely different - so maybe it was a younger version of the insect, which we already know.
Anything like this before, scientists have not seen. "Hairs" are actually the follicles of wax, which is likely intended to predators grabbed the wrong end (hairs grow on her back). As is the case with tail lizards, nymphs are likely to reject the back, which gives them a chance to escape death. We also have hairs second purpose - when nymph senses danger, she jumps like a flea on a distance greater than a hundred times the size of the insect's body. Hairs are kind of parachute, allowing the nymph to plan further. This, of course, cool, but do not change the fact that the larva looks like a doll trolls 80s.
4. Ants use math
According to the principle of least time Fermat ray of light moves in the environment for the fastest way, but not necessarily the shortest. This is one reason why the light is reflected when the air passes from the water. And, surprisingly, the ants follow this principle.
When ant colonies provide a food source, they form a "train" that gets to the food in the shortest time. However, it is quite obvious fact - any animal trying to make it. What is more interesting is that ants wriggling pave path corresponding to the terrain, and the most logical from the point of view of mathematics. If they slowly overcome any terrain, ants will avoid it by increasing the distance, if it will give the opportunity to move on smooth terrain. However, they also will not fail to pass straight through the complicated topography, if in order to get around the need to do too much hook.
Naturally, this process is not based on logic - the ants do not get small calculators to understand which way to go it is rather an example of micro-evolution of finding the perfect way. Every time an ant returns with food, it leaves behind a trail of pheromones. Newcomers ants see several paths left by previous miners, and choose the fastest, adding to the trail their pheromones. Over time, dozens of original paths converge into one, the most effective way.
3. Cannibalism among Mormon crickets
Mormon crickets live mainly in the south-western United States. Every few years, the explosive growth of population leads to massive swarms, which are carried by the farms and cities. In Roe can total many millions of individuals, and they are all in search of one - protein. So swarms begin to move. They can not fly, however, these little creatures can crawl 1.5 kilometers every day, paving the ground with their bodies like a carpet.
However move makes them rather strange dynamics. In such huge swarms food crickets receive only those who are ahead of the swarm. By the time the insects crawling behind, catching the distance food anymore. Maddened by hunger, they attack the nearest source of protein - crickets crawling ahead of them. Ultimately, crickets crawling ahead, gorge, but are forced to crawl on to them had not eaten a swarm of hungry, crawling back. This combination of hunger and fear causes them to make one of the largest mass migrations in the country.
2. Homosexuality insects
As we have seen many times and made sure to mammals and birds is no stranger to homosexuality. However, the proliferation of gay sex in the world of insects has been studied much less. However, while in the larger creatures there are deeper reasons for being homosexual, in the case of insects are less lofty reasons: confusion, manipulation and simple despair.
In many cases homosexuality insects is purely coincidental. Most insects have evolved so that their mating process is quick and dirty. Constantly under the threat of being eaten, they need to settle this issue as soon as possible. Male insects, driven mostly pheromones to confuse the remaining smell females in male after mating, and climb onto the male indiscriminately.
In some species, the threat of damage to internal organs from these meetings of males errors actually tucked them to genital development, similar to the genitalia of females, which allows them to avoid a puncture in the wrong place. In addition, there are deliberate reason: males of some beetles mate with other males in the hope that their sperm gets into the next female with which they will mate.
1. Ants that destroy computers
In some states in the southern U.S. destroyed fire ants. For most people, this is great news, however, those insects that come in their place, much worse. In 2002, the exterminator from Texas was faced with a new kind of invasive ants. Called "crazy ants" these insects kill all fire ants have been seen. However, the "crazy ants" have fallen into disrepute because they are hammered into electronics, chew wiring and kill themselves to achieve the exposed wiring.
Dying and releasing a small ball of smoke, they emit into the air a chemical that encourages other ants to fight this kind of wiring to avenge the death of a comrade. The result is a swarm of ants attacking the wiring in computers, mobile phones and TVs.
And they spread rapidly. What started in Texas, quickly reached the Mississippi and Florida, and now these insects are moving north on the State of Georgia. Crazy ants reproduce much faster than those that are endemic to the region in which it comes to invasive species. This allows them to win in the competition for food. They kill those ants who did not die from hunger and take away their nest.