Kids, especially young boys, seem to have a thing about bugs. Maybe it’s because they’re so into dinosaurs. After all, insects — the non-biting kinds — look so otherworldly. Sure, there’s the errant child who enjoys burning ants with a magnifying glass, but most young ones love what we used to call “creepy crawlies.”

Wanna make some points with your son? Vulcan Termite and Pest Control, Inc. is in the business of ridding folks of various pests, but we’ve put together some fun facts about bugs that you can use to impress your 4-year old. All true. When you see the kids huddled around in the backyard, playing with insects, you can blow them away with some simple facts. Not the bugs. The kids.

Ugh. Bugs.

You should always be nearby when the child is mind-melding with a bug. As we mentioned earlier, some can lunge a nasty bite through a child’s tender flesh. With that being said, here comes the fun stuff.

• Insects love to dine on plants. So much so that they are the top eaters of greenery than any other animal on the planet. They not only eat, they’re eaten, too. Go to Thailand and some African countries. Dried bugs are a delicacy. Especially grasshoppers and ants.
• While some bugs will destroy the crops they feast upon, they have their uses. Certain species produce silk, honey and wax. And most importantly they pollinate flowers and crops. Without these beneficial insects, stuff wouldn’t bear fruits or veggies that we eat. On the dirty side, there are quite a few critters which spread disease.
• You think there are a lot of people on Earth? Bugs have us beat by a light year. Ninety-percent of every living thing on the planet is an insect. Scientists think there are over 1-million different known species of bugs. But other eggheads say it could be as many as 10-million different species on the third planet from the sun. They are divided up into 32 orders, the largest group are beetles.
• Rapid fire round: Most insects:
  • Were the earliest organisms to produce sounds and to sense them.
  • Are cold-blooded.
  • Can fly.
  • Not most, but ALL bugs DO NOT have lungs.
  • Have multiple eyes.
• Bugs mostly are made-up of three body parts: A head, a thorax (which is basically their chest) and a stomach. Their exoskeletons (bone-like structures on the outside of their bodies) have senses for detecting smell, hearing sound, feeling the temperature, experiencing weather and detecting light.
• Ants, bees and a couple of other species live in little neighborhoods called colonies or hives. They’re pretty social.
• But almost all other insects don’t have friends and like to live alone. The only exception is when they want to make babies or fight each other for some buggy reason.
• Insects can live in most places on Earth. They’ve set-up homes in climates as cold as the Antarctic or as hot as a sandy, unshaded desert. There is one place you’ll rarely find an insect living. The oceans on the planet.
• As things go, it’s estimated that more than 160 insect species have disappeared. Survival of the fittest is the best way to describe their extinction.
• Finally, a single ant can lift about 100-times their own body weight. Take your child to a place that sells dump trucks. Ask them if they can pick up the heavy machine. Probably can’t if they’re not a human-sized ant. If the kid can bench-press a truck, ask them if they came from the planet Krypton. They may have a relative on the Earth named Superman.

Original Source: https://www.vulcantermite.com/garden-pest-control/fun-facts-for-kids-about-bugs

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