What's bugging me?

I may have written on this before, for I find them so very interesting--bugs. Technically they are "animals" in terms of classification: Animalia, Invertebrates, specifically Arthropoda (insects, spiders, crustaceans). Some claim if we were to identify all species in the tropical rain forests the ranks of Arthropoda would swell to over 10 million species! That's all good and well, but what I find so interesting about them includes:

They are so very, very diverse. Detroit could never generate so much variation on one chassis! If ever there was a reason to think that there might be a creator, it would well-be the creative genius behind all the clever designs showcased among insects. If I put my mind to it, I could likely find a new bug every day for a year, just on my farm.

They are built with intention. Insects have very particular niches in which they live, and they are built to endure the surroundings they habitate. (My office mate argues that they are found in the environs which best support them, but who's arguing chickens and eggs here.) I watched an episode of Earth recently in which they went into some very large, very deep caves and shared the wild life cycles w/n them. There were insects there w/o eyes who lived on bat guano. Their legs, wings, etc. were engineered to scale piles of bat poop and harvest food from it. Amazing.

They are a little creepy. I've met few people who do not cringe when a bug is crawling around on them, when they find a cockroach in the cupboard, or when they hear about dust mites in their pillow, bugs that thrive on the skin cells they leave in their laundry...fire worms. Insects have no qualms about being parasites or living in dung. That's part of why they are so prolific.

They are tough. I've encountered some that I simply cannot crush w/o a tool. (I'm not inclined to kill, kill, kill, but there are some ticks and such that I will kill on sight!) These typically tiny tough bugs are hard as a rock. Generally speaking, insects have a tough exoskeleton that protects them from harm, like armor. Entomologists claim that in the event of nuclear proliferation, cockroaches would still survive. We might die at an exposure of 800 rems, but a German cockroach can survive over 80,000 rems of exposure.

They are taken for granted. Always the champion of the underdog, I like to root for the little guy, and most insects are smaller in scale than us vertebrates. Most people, most of the time, simply consider insects to be "bugs" that are, well, bugging them. They may brush them away or reach for the insecticide on impulse. I'm always inclined to first check them out (and now my boys are growing up this same way, curious first).

My 4 year old received a bunch of bug toys for his birthday, including nets, magnifying glasses, little cages and playpens, even a vacuum to catch the bugs! I look forward to spending many hours with him just coming to appreciate these little things, these little, creepy-crawly things, in our own back yard.