Wasp

True Wild Life | Wasp | The wasp is medium sized flying insect that is found all around the world. The wasp is known for its black and yellow markings which means that some wasp and bee species are commonly confused. The wasp is found in all the countries in the world, on every continent with the exception of the polar regions. There are around 75,000 recognized species of wasp worldwide that grow to around 2/3 inch long.

The wasp is most commonly known for its poisonous sting, that if a human is stung can often swell into a painful lump that takes a few days to soothe. Some people are allergic to wasp stings meaning the wasp sting can be fatal. Not all wasps can sting though but those that can often die once they have used their sting has it is joined onto their rear end of often becomes dislodged. When a wasp dies it releases a smell (called a pheromone) which warns the other wasps of danger and that it needs help.

Like many other insect species, the wasp is social insect and many wasps, as many as 10,000, inhabit just one nest. The queen wasp is the only breeding female and she builds the nest from a papery substance that is made up of chewed wood and plants. Typically, the wasp only lives for 12 - 22 days. Wasps are omnivorous animals and therefore eat a mixture of plants and other animals. As with bees, the wasp prefers the sweeter plants and primarily eats nectar, fruits and honey. Wasps also eat insects and even large caterpillars.

Despite their bright colours to deter predators, wasps are eaten by a number of different animals around the world including birds, amphibians, reptiles and various species of mammal. The queen wasp lays her eggs inside the nest which hatch in a number of days. When the wasp larvae hatch they are cared for by the other wasps in the nest and begin to hunt for food to bring back to the nest. Wasps are known to travel nearly half a kilometre away from the nest in search of food.

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Termite

True Wild Life | Termite | Termites are sociable insects, found in their millions all over the world. Termites feed on dead plant matter, rotten wood and soil and often create mounds out of dirt to support the termite colony. Termite colonies can vary in size from just hundreds of termites to several million termite individuals. As with other insects, such as the ant, termites lead a sociable existence and therefore abide by social hierarchy. Individual termites all have their position within the colony either worker termites, soldier termites or reproducer termites.

Termites are known as detritivores, which means that they eat decomposing plant matter. Around 10% of the estimated 4,000 different termite species are known as pests, as they can cause damage to buildings and agricultural land. The termite workers build and maintain elaborate nests to house their termite colony. The termites use soil, mud, chewed wood, saliva, and faeces in their nest construction. Enormous termite mounds are commonly seen in tropical and sub-tropical regions. Termite mounds are often found as high as 3 meters, but most are usually smaller. Termite mounds however, have been known to get to more than 9 meters tall.

Termites are herbivorous animals meaning that they only eat organic plant matter. Termites eat a mixture of plants, grasses and woods and some termites are known to pose a major problem to wooden houses as they eat their way through the wood, often causing structural damage.

In many cultures around in the world, termites are eaten as part of a normal diet. Termites are extremely nutritious as they have a good store of both fat and protein. Termites are also a nutritional food source for all kinds of animals from birds, to reptiles, to mammals.

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Stick Insect

True Wild Life | Stick Insect | The stick insect (as its name suggests) is an insect that looks like a twig on a branch, bush or tree. This unique identity means that stick insects can be extremely difficult for predators to spot. Stick insects are found in the forests, rainforests and jungles around the world where they live a peaceful lifestyle, expertly camouflaged into their surroundings.

There are more than 3,000 different species of stick insect in the world, with more being thought to have not yet been discovered. Stick insects can range in size from just 3 cm to 30 cm in length. Stick insects have long, cylindrical bodies, that are stick-like in both shape and colour. Some stick insect species however have more flattened bodies which make them look more like leaves than sticks.

The stick insect is a herbivorous animal meaning that the diet of the stick insect is purely a vegetarian one. Stick insects mainly feed on leaves and other green plants, along with the odd berries or fruit. Due to their small size, stick insects have numerous predators in their tree-surrounded environment, if they can be seen that is. Birds, small reptiles, and rodents all feed on the stick insect if they are able to find one.

After mating, the female stick insect lays up to 1,500 eggs which are cleverly camouflage to look like plant seeds. The eggs of the stick insect are able to lay dormant for months before the larvae begin to hatch out of the eggs. When the stick insect larvae first hatch, they already closely resemble and adult stick insect.

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Stag Beetle

True Wild Life | Stag Beetle | A stag beetle is one of more than 1,200 different species of beetle that are natively found in Europe. The stag beetle is the largest species of insect to be found in the United Kingdom, but despite this, the stag beetle is becoming rarer and rarer in much of Britain and is now a protected species in much of it's historic range. The stag beetle is primarily found inhabiting deciduous woodlands and forest across the European continent where there is an abundance of food and plenty of hiding places for this armoured insect. Stag beetle are also becoming a more common sight in parks and gardens that provide artificial replacements of their native habitats.

The stag beetle is Britain's largest and most distinctive insect as some individuals can reach more than 10cm in length. The hard, armoured shell of the stag beetle provides it's body with immense protection and is split into three parts (as with other insects) to give the stag beetle greater agility when moving around. The most distinctive feature of the stag beetle is it's long antler-like pincers which protrude from the head of the stag beetle. The pincers of the male stag beetle are often considerably larger than those of the female are primarily used for holding onto prey. Stag beetles also have wings that are protected by their shell when not being used, allowing the stag beetle to fly away if it feels threatened.

Stag beetles are omnivorous animals, but they eat a predominately vegetarian diet. Decaying wood, leaves, nectar, fruits and flowers are all stable foods in a stag beetle's diet along with smaller insects when other food sources are not as readily available. Despite their protective body armour, stag beetles are preyed up by a wide variety of animals throughout Europe. Bats, birds, rats and other rodents are the main predators of the stag beetle along with cats and dogs, and other larger mammals such as foxes.

Stag beetles usually begin to breed when the warmer summer weather emerges, and once hatched, the stag beetle larvae remain in their infant form from a few months to a few years. The stag beetle larvae feed on rotting wood and change to nectars when they become adults. Once fully developed, adult stag beetles have a short lifespan only getting to a few months older. Today, primarily thanks to habitat loss, the stag beetle is one of the world's threatened species and is therefore protected throughout it's natural range but particularly in the UK where the stag beetle is becoming rarer and rarer.

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Puss Moth

True Wild Life | Puss Moth | The puss moth is a generally medium sized species of moth that is found across Europe and in parts of North Africa. The puss moth is not to be confused with the cat-like North American puss moth that is well-known for the incredibly hairy appearance of it's caterpillar. The puss moth caterpillar of Europe is not so hairy but is known to have some very distinctive features themselves. The puss moth is most commonly found in incredibly dense woodland throughout the European continent and across parts of Northern Africa. The puss moth inhabits areas where there is plenty for them to eat and so are most commonly spotted among willow and poplar leaves. The puss moth is becoming rarer as much of it's native woodland has been threatened by deforestation or air and noise pollution.

The adult puss moth can grow quite large, with some individuals known to have a wingspan that grew to nearly 10cm. Puss moths are one of the easiest moth species to identify as the dark black markings stand out again the bright white colour of their wings. As with most other species of moth, the puss moth is a generally nocturnal animal that rests during the day and comes out at night to feed. However, it is the caterpillar of the puss moth that has made them so interesting to humans. The caterpillar of the puss moth is generally green in colour with a dark looking spike protruding from one end and a colourful "face" on the other. When threatened the puss moth caterpillar is known to spray formic acid at it's attacker to minimise the chance of it being eaten (it is the most dangerous caterpillar species in Britain).

Puss moths are herbivorous animals that primarily feed on the leaves from willow and poplar trees that grow naturally in the surrounding forest. Puss moths generally remain in the same area where there are a number of decent host trees for these moths to both feast on and rest in. As with other moth and butterfly species, the puss moth has numerous predators to try and avoid within its natural environment. Bats, rats and birds are among the most common predators of the puss moth along with other animals such as frogs and rodents. Despite its best attempts, the aggressive caterpillar of the puss moth is also eaten by many of these animals.

Butterflies and moths are well known for the incredible metamorphic process undergone from the larvae to adult stages. Puss moths start life as caterpillars which eventually fortify themselves in a cocoon where they transform into the adult moth. The puss moth cocoon is known to be one of the hardest of all moth species. Today, the puss moth is threatened in much of it's native range primarily due to changes within its environment including habitat loss and the introduction of non-native predators into their natural environment.

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Pond Skater

True Wild Life | Pond Skater | The pond skater is a delicate water-based insect commonly found on still bodies of water across the Northern Hemisphere. There are around 500 different species of pond skater that are known by a variety of different names including water striders, water bugs, magic bugs, skaters, skimmers, water scooters, water skaters, water skeeters, water skimmers, water skippers and Jesus bugs. The pond skater is most commonly found across Europe where they live on the surface of ponds, slow streams, marshes, and other quiet waters, in all parts of the continent. Pond skaters are most well known for their ability to "walk on water", where pond skaters use surface tension to delicately walk on the surface of the water.

Pond skaters float on the surface of the water sensing vibrations and ripples in the water with sensitive hairs on their legs and bodies. If an insect accidentally falls into the water, the ripples it makes will tell the pond skater exactly where it is and the pond skater will dart across the surface of the pond to catch it's prey. The long legs of the pond skater mean that they are very agile on the surface of the water and can jump to evade a predator or to catch an insect. Pond skaters however, do not spend all their time on the water as they will fly far from water to hibernate through the winter and then re-emerge from hibernation in the warmer spring.

The pond skater is a carnivorous insect that feeds only on other invertebrates in order to survive. Despite their thin and floaty appearance, the pond skater is actually a pretty aggressive predator, pouncing on insects that land on the water's surface. Insect larvae are the other main food source for the pond skater. Due to it's small size and prominent appearance on the water's still surface, the pond skater is easily spotted by other pond-life. Fish and newts in the water along with birds, frogs and toads on the surface are the main predators of the pond skater.

Pond skaters are known to mate on the surface of the water in the warming months of spring and early summer, before the female pond skater returns to the water's edge to lay her eggs on a leaf where they will be safer from predators. When hatched, the pond skater nymph drop into the water where they continue to develop, before emerging on the surface as water-walking adults.

Although, a common sight on garden ponds throughout Europe, pond skaters in less cultivated areas are being increasingly affected by the rising levels of pollution in the natural freshwater sources.

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Moth

True Wild Life | Moth | Moths are found all around the world and are closely related to the colourful butterfly. However, moths are not generally so brightly coloured as the butterfly as the moth is a nocturnal animal and so blends in to the darker surroundings. There are thought to be up to 250,000 different species of moth throughout the world, and even more are believed to have not yet been discovered. Due to their nocturnal lifestyle, moths are known to be attracted to lights and are even believed to be able to fly in a straight line as the moths use the moon for navigation.

In the same remarkable way as a butterfly, the moth undergoes a stage of metamorphosis during its limited life cycle. The moth caterpillar is different from the butterfly type, it is more broad and some contain a stinger. As with their butterfly cousins, moths are known to play a vital role in the pollination of plants as they flutter between them. Those plants that flower (bloom) during the night rely solely on moths and also bats to pollinate them. If the moth is distracted by an artificial light, it will in turn affect that reproduction of the plants that it helps to pollinate.

Moths are herbivorous animals and therefore survive on a plant-based diet. Moths predominantly drink the nectar from the plants using their long straw-like tongue and moths are also known to do a similar thing with sugary fruits and berries. The moth caterpillars, also still generally herbivores, eat a mixture of plants and leaves and some species also eat insects. The moth has numerous natural predators throughout the world that include birds, bats, reptiles, amphibians, rodents and even other insects and larger spiders.

All around the world, both moths and their caterpillars are known to be a pest, particularly to farmers as the caterpillars munch through their crop. Moths are renowned for the larvae becoming a pest by eating through fabrics, the moth seems to mainly go for the delicate silk. Moths are known to make holes in household fabrics like blinds and curtains.

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Ladybird

True Wild Life | Ladybird | The ladybird (also known as the ladybug) is a small colourful beetle found all around the world. There are thought to be more than 5,000 different species of ladybird in the world, with more than 450 species found in North America alone. The ladybird is best known for it's spotted body (normally red and black, but often orange and yellow are found), and their ability to rid gardens of their aphid pests affectively. It is thought to be good luck to find that a ladybird has landed on you, and most definitely bad luck if you then squash it!

Ladybirds are small sized insects rarely growing to more than a centimetre in length. Ladybirds have size legs that are black in colour and their brightly coloured shell, protects the wings of the ladybird which are concealed beneath the spots. Ladybirds are known to hibernate once the warm summer weather begins to cool. Ladybirds will hibernate in large groups in sites which are used year after year, and ladybirds are thought to hibernate in this communial fashion in order to increase their chances of surviving the cold winter. It is thought that pheromones are released by hibernating ladybirds which attract other ladybirds to hibernate in the same place.

Ladybirds are fearsome predators within their environment and are known as gardener's friends as they munch all of the tiny pests that eat the plants. Ladybirds primarily eat aphids, greenfly, plant-lice and other small insects. It is thought that the average ladybird eats more than 5,000 aphids in just one year. Ladybirds are prey to a number of animals in their environment that include birds, reptiles, amphibians, small mammals, rodents and other insects. It is thought that the bright colour of the ladybird is used to deter hungry predators as they think that the ladybird will taste disgusting or is poisonous.

The female ladybird can lay more than 2,000 eggs in one year that hatch in just a few days. The ladybird larvae hatches out of the eggs and looks nothing like an adult ladybird as the ladybird larvae is long in shape and is generally one colour. After a couple of weeks, the ladybird larvae evolves into a ladybird pupa which is about the same size and colour as an adult ladybird but has a protective layer surrounding it, until it has developed it's wings. Once the ladybird pupa has developed, it breaks out of the skin surrounding it to become an adult ladybird. Due to climate changes and habitat loss, the ladybird is now considered to be one of the animal species that is threatened with extinction. It has been noted that ladybirds are particularly sensitive to temperature and will die from dehydration if it is much hotter than it should be.

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Insect

True Wild Life | Insect | Insects are the most abundant group of living creatures on earth with up to 30 million estimated species of insect found worldwide. Insects can be found in all ranges of environment even (but limited) in the oceans and rivers. Insects feed on other, smaller insects and decaying leaf and plant matter.

Insects can been found to walk, swim and fly and are continuously evolving and adapting to the changing climates. Some species of insect, like the ant, have very sophisticated colonies with a successful power hierarchy.

Insects are known as invertebrates, meaning that they have no backbone. Most species of insect have a hard outer shell which protects the inside of the insect.

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Honey Bee

True Wild Life | Honey Bee | The honey bee is a small sized bee that inhabiting quiet forests, jungles, meadows and gardens all all over the world. There are only 7 recognized species of honey bee out of 20,000 different bee species found worldwide, but these individual species often contain their own subspecies. There are 44 known subspecies of the 7 species of honey bee. The honey bee is primarily involved in the production of honey and is today found worldwide. The honey bee is thought to originate from the jungles of south east Asia, where wild honey can still be found and the honey bee eventually took up residence in numerous countries.

The honey bees build and inhabit a hive, run by their female queen honey bee who populates the hive. The honey collects nectar from flowers which it takes back to the hive to be turned into honey. At the height of the summer, over 40,000 honey bees can be found inhabiting just one hive. Honeybees communicate with each other through 'dance language', which consists of movements made by the honey bee's tail. Honey bees primarily use this form of communication to warm other honey bees of oncoming danger.

The honey bee is a herbivorous animal and therefore lives purely on the nutrients from plants. Honey bees prefer to ingest the sweeter plant produce such as nectar, pollen, fruits and even honey. Due to their small size, honey bees have a number of predators in their natural environment. Birds, small mammals, reptiles and other insects are known to prey on the honey bee and larger mammals such as bears are notorious for destroying the hive of the honey bees in order to eat the honey inside.

The queen honey bee is the one who lays the eggs. She lays her eggs in a round-shaped mound that she then seals with wax. When the baby honey bees (larvae) hatch they are forced to eat their way out of their sealed dome. Honey bees are known to play a valuable part in the eco-system as around 1/3 of what humans eat is pollinated by bees. It is estimated that around 80% of the world's crop species are dependent on the pollination by bees to survive.

Sadly due to high pollution levels and habitat loss, the honey bee populations are rapidly declining with the honey bee being one of the few insects that is classed as being endangered and is therefore severely threatened with extinction. Human beings do not give bees the respect they deserve, as honey bees are vital to the survival of plants which are in turn vital to the survival of humans.

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Hercules Beetle

True Wild Life | Hercules Beetle | The Hercules beetle is one of the largest species of beetle in the world, and is natively found in the jungles of South America. The Hercules beetle is the largest and most well known of all of the rhinoceros beetles, a group of large beetles that are closely related to the famous scarab beetle. The Hercules beetle is found throughout the tropical jungles and rainforests of Central and South America, where the Hercules beetle spends the majority of it's time foraging through the leaf-litter on the forest floor in search of something to eat. The fallen debris also helps to hide this enormous insect as it moves about.

There are thirteen known species of Hercules beetle found in the jungles of South America and the Hercules beetle was named for it's sheer size as some males have been known to reach nearly 7 inches in length. Although it is quite rare for these beetles to get quite so big, the average adult Hercules beetle is usually between four and fifteen centimetres long depending on the species. The most distinctive feature of the Hercules beetle has to be the enormous horn-like pincers which protrude from the forehead of the males. These horns can grow longer than the Hercules beetle's body and are mainly used for solving disputes with other male Hercules beetles. Female Hercules beetles do not have horns but their bodies are thought to be larger, but shorter than their male counterparts.

The Hercules beetle is an omnivorous animal but it;'s diet both in it's larvae and adult stages, is primarily made up of decaying plant matter. Rotting wood is the favoured meal of the Hercules beetle, along with fruits and other plant matter and the occasional small insect. The Hercules beetle is said to be the strongest creature on earth for its size, able to carry 850 times its own body weight but these enormous insects are still hunted by numerous animals throughout the jungles of Central and South America. Bats, rats and birds are the main predators of the Hercules beetle along with reptiles and omnivorous mammals.

The larval stage of the Hercules beetle will last one to two years, with the larva growing up to 4.5 inches in length and weighing up to 120 grams. Much of the life of the Hercules beetle larva is spent tunnelling through it's primary food source of rotting wood. After the larval period, transformation into a pupa, and moulting occur, with the Hercules beetle then emerging as an adult. Today, the Hercules beetle is threatened as much of it's natural habitat has been lost to deforestation or been affected by both air and water pollution.

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Grasshopper

 

True Wild Life | Grasshopper | The grasshopper is a medium to large sized insect and the grasshopper is found (close to grass) all over the world. Grasshoppers are best known for their ability to jump incredible heights and distances. Most grasshopper individuals grow to about 2 inches long although larger grasshoppers are found on a fairly regular basis that grow to more than 5 inches in length. The grasshopper has wings meaning it can migrate over long distances when the weather gets too cold.

There are 11,000 thousand known species of grasshopper on Earth, that live in grassy areas such as fields and meadows and forest and woodland. Like all insects, all species of grasshopper have a three-part body that is made up of the grasshopper's head, it's thorax and the abdomen. Grasshoppers also have six legs, two pairs of wings, and two antennae. The antennae of the grasshopper are known to be remarkably long and can often be longer than the grasshopper's body, although the grasshopper's antennae and the grasshopper's body are normally about the same size. Grasshoppers use their long antennae in order to make sense of their surroundings.

Grasshoppers have six jointed legs that are incredibly powerful for such a small creature, as grasshoppers are able to jump extraordinary distances. The two back legs of the grasshopper are long and powerful and are just for jumping, where the four front legs of the grasshopper are primarily used to hold onto prey and to help it to walk. Despite their large size, grasshoppers are herbivores animals and have a diet that consists solely of plant matter. Grasshoppers eat grasses, weeds, leaves, shrubs, bark and numerous other species of plants that surround them.

The grasshopper is also a stable food source for many predators around the world including reptiles, insects, small mammals and birds. It is common for humans to eat grasshoppers in places like Asia and Africa where the bigger species of grasshopper are found, and there is a less readily available alternative protein source. The female grasshopper lays an egg pod that contains a couple of dozen grasshopper eggs in the late autumn to early winter depending on the area. The female grasshopper inserts her egg pod into the soil so that it is a couple of inches underground. The grasshopper eggs can take up to 9 months to hatch as they wait until the weather has warmed before breaking into the outside world.

When the first baby grasshopper (known as a nymph) hatches out of it's egg, it tunnels through the soil and up to the surface, and the remaining grasshopper nymph follow. As they get older, the grasshoppers will increase in size until they are adults. The grasshopper only remains in this stage (young and adult) for a few months before it dies meaning that most grasshopper individuals spend the majority of their lives inside an egg.

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