With the recent weather, we need to find those signs of spring and summer to see hope. And low and Behold we have it right up everyone’s alley.
We are a flyn on to the little things. Did You Know? Ladybugs are a type of beetle. These tiny little aphid-eaters are technically not bugs, but rather part of the beetle family. As we know, not all Ladybugs look the same. Most known is the red one with 7 spots. But some have no spots and others have up to 20 spots. Their markings are a warning and method of protection. The color sends off the message to predators that it may taste bad or be poisonous. They come in many colors, most commonly red, orange, yellow or scarlet with black dots on them. Some ladybugs have white spots and some even have stripes.
Orange-tinted ladybugs, which are mostly Asian lady beetles, tend to have the most toxins in their bodies. Therefore, they may be the most allergenic to humans. Red ladybugs tend to be more predatory and able to defend themselves. Red of course is a deterrent to larger predators. They also play dead to protect themselves. When startled they release a foul smelling liquid from their knees.
The origins of the name “ladybug” trace back to when European farmers would pray to the Virgin Mary to prevent their crops from being destroyed by pests. Ladybugs ate up the insects and were called “Lady beetles” after the Virgin Mary and have been loved by farmers ever since.
They live from 2 to 3 years and eat other small insects, fruit, and aphids and are known to eat their own eggs. They are found worldwide except cold places like the Arctic and Antarctica.
Let’s wiggle on over to that worm. Charles Darwin, best known for his theory of evolution, studied worms for 38 years. He even published a book on em in 1881 with his findings. In this book he suggested earthworms are the most important creatures on Earth. So what is so amazing and interesting about worms?
Did you know worms will become paralyzed if exposed to light for too long? You can identify adult breeding worms by their distinctive ring shaped band called a clitella. Worms mate by lining up their heads and attaching themselves together at the clitella. A cocoon is then formed at the clitella band. Yes, worms hatch from a cocoon. Wow, what we learn from a library!
A mature Red Wiggler worm can produce 2-3 cocoons per week. Cocoons are small, lemon shaped and yellowish gold colored. For Red Wiggler worms, the hatchlings inside the cocoon can take up to 11 weeks to mature before they hatch. Each cocoon usually hatches 2 to 4 baby worms. Cocoons can be dormant for years until conditions are right. Well that’s an odd fact.
The Gippsland Giant earthworm is one of the largest earthworms in the world. They average 3.3 ft. long, are 0.79 inches in diameter and can reach up to 9.8 ft. long. (Take a big fishing hook for this one.) The Gippsland Giant earthworm is a protected species only found in a small pocket of land near the bottom of mainland Australian. (So much for fishin.) When the Gippsland Giant earthworm was first discovered in the 1870s, it was mistaken for a snake. The largest earthworm ever found was in South Africa measuring 22 ft. long.
Worms are fast food processors, (wonder how many Big Macs they can eat?) and can digest about half of their body weight each day. A worm’s digestive system is a tube which runs straight from the front at the mouth and all the way to the rear.
So let’s jump on over to Frogs. Did you know frogs have ears? And did you know male frogs have bigger ears than females? Their ears are just behind their eyes.
We all know frogs ‘drink’ through their skin and are cold-blooded as they hibernate in winter. Frogs produce mucus from their skin to ensure they stay moist when they’re above the water. This helps them to breathe through their skin.
Frogs are an extremely ancient species. Recent evidence suggests that the species is over 265 million years old, and originates from the Permian period. There are fossils of complete frogs, which show that – physically – they haven’t changed much in this time!
There are around 7,300 species of frogs, but over a third of frog species are considered endangered. They make up most of the amphibian population on the planet. They’re tailless, webbed-footed short-bodied animals that live both in water and on land.
Because of the conditions they need to survive, habitats close to water or wetlands are ideal to live in. Habitats range from burrows underground, to the tops of tropical trees and swampy lakes.
Research suggests frogs have adapted to inhabit everywhere from subarctic regions to the humid heat of tropical rainforests. The only places they struggle to live in are freezing environments in the Polar Regions – although some frogs do live in the Arctic Circle. They don’t inhabit some of the world’s islands either, because the salty sea water would dehydrate them and frogspawn can’t survive in salt water. However they can live in deserts and in montane forests above 2.8 miles.
Some are poisonous, but their main form of defense is camouflage. Female frogs can lay thousands of eggs at a time. The biggest frog in the world is the goliath frog which is 30 cm long!
Frogs have really strong leg muscles which makes them incredible jumpers. Some bull frogs, which average 18 cm long, can leap over 2 meters – that’s ten times their length!
So you thought frogs just hopped, didn’t you?? So if someone told you they saw a flying frog would you think they were seeing things? But frogs do fly! Believe it or not. Flying frogs can glide for 12 to 15 meters, because of their extremely effective webbing between their fingers and toes. They leap from trees – expanding their webbing – and can glide up to 15 meters. Wonder how they get to the top of the trees though??
Frogs are known as environmental bellwethers. This is because they are so sensitive to changes in the environment, they are usually the first to be affected and so warn of environmental problems.
So frog or toad? There isn’t actually a biological difference between frogs and toads. Toads are just very warty frogs. We might have thought those warty toads weren’t frogs, but how about those Flying frogs, Suriname toads, Sedge frogs, Glass frogs, Poison frogs, and Wood frogs?
Suriname toads- female Suriname toads – have special skin on their backs, like bubble wrap. They protect their young by carrying their eggs – and tadpoles – on their backs in tiny bubble backpacks. This means the baby frogs hatch out of their mother’s backs!
Sedge frogs live in trees. The climbing African frog, for example, has super-sticky toe disks which stick to the bark of trees. Now we know how they get to the top of those trees.
Glass frogs are a family of frogs which have near-transparent (see-through) skin on their bellies for which they’re named. This means you can see glass frogs’ intestines, heart and liver! YUCK! They are found in the trees of Central and South American coastal forests.
Poison frogs are tiny rainforest-dwellers. They are brightly colored (often with amazing patterns) to warn predators of their toxicity.
Wood frogs are a species of frog that can withstand a yearly freeze! They can withstand being frozen throughout winter. Their blood contains a kind of ‘antifreeze’ like liquid which helps them to thaw when it’s springtime.
Let’s switch gears and turn our eyes to a beauty of nature, a time of renewal, and a symbolic flower of the spring. Cherry blossoms are a fleeting nature of life. Their beauty peaks around two weeks.
Why called cherry blossoms when there are no cherries to eat? Essentially, cherry trees and cherry blossoms are different varieties of cherry trees. A standard cherry tree has a focus put on producing delicious fruit while a cherry blossom places the focus on flowers. The Cherry Blossom tree’s flowers are nearly pure white, tinged with the palest pink, especially near the stem. They bloom and usually fall within a week, before the leaves come out. Therefore, the trees look nearly white from top to bottom. There are five petals on a cherry blossom.
Once the buds open, there’s an explosive chain reaction resulting in a beautiful display of pale pink petals across parks and streets. A trip to see the cherry blossoms is the pinnacle of nature in all its glory.
Blooming cherry blossom trees go hand in hand with the arrival of spring. Cherry blossoms symbolize renewal, the impermanence of beauty and have quite a surprising backstory. For example, did you know that the first time Japan tried to send cherry blossoms to the U.S. as an offering of friendship; it nearly resulted in a diplomatic crisis?
In 1910, US inspectors from the Department of Agriculture recommended burning the 2,000 trees sent from the Japanese after finding insects and diseases in the trees. According to ‘Washingtonian’, this nearly caused a diplomatic crisis.
Got past the diplomatic crisis, but think again before you decide to pluck one of these pink beauties. Removing a blossom or branch is considered vandalism of federal property in Washington, D.C., which can lead to a citation or even an arrest.
Neither D.C. nor Japan hold the title of “Cherry Blossom Capital of the World. Rather, it’s Macon, Georgia, which is home to over 350,000 Yoshino cherry blossom trees. That’s 90 times the amount that Washington, D.C. has! While these trees obviously are not native to the South, William A. Fickling Sr., a local realtor, discovered one in his own backyard in 1949. On a business trip to Washington, D.C., he learned about cherry blossoms and brought them to his hometown.
So did you think lady bugs, worms, frogs and cherry blossoms never had a special relationship? Well they do. They are all signs and beauty of spring and the glories of summer to come, along with the thrills little ones find to investigate.