More Bug Stuff

Here's a little fella I met in Peru.



Ok, not a giant centipede, but bigger than most I would say. (and I only held it because no one had told me about the poisened pincers).

So lets get this clear, I have nothing against beetles. Ok, last months outbreak of weevils in my kitchen was a little annoying (ah the joys of organic, fair trade dried coconut)and my one experience of bed bugs was not particularly fun, but on the whole beetles are ok. I even pick up ladybirds and bring them home to dine on the greenfly that infest my fuchias. Should my new house purchase ever happen the garden will have a nature area, resplendent with rotting logs and bug boxes specifically to encourage beetles to move in. I am the beetles friend. Its just the beetle statistics that un-nerve me. There are more species of beetle than any other animal. Ok, so something has to top the list, why not beetles? But they win by so much its scary. Not only are there more species of beetle than any other animal, they nearly outnumber all the other animal species combined. Yup. nearly 50% of the animal species on the planet are beetles. You telling me that there is no cosmic significance in that? Are you seeing it yet? The grand architect/alien life inseminators/fickle evolutionary fates REALLY like beetles. And we're not beetles. We're the species with a megabuck roach poisening industry.