Today on my way home from work I met an unusual passenger. It was a
Heteroptera bug - not sure which kind exactly, and at first I wasn't really interested, because for some reason I can't stand those bugs. I'm normally interested in insects of all kinds, but, yuck, Heteroptera I just hate. Maybe it's a childhood thing - I do remember as a little girl rooting around in raspberry bushes and getting my hands all stinky from these critters. Which wasn't helped by an experience in Prague the summer when I was twelve - we went to the Natural History Museum, which was a great place generally, but they had some Heteroptera there in the insect section that were just GIGANTIC. I remember the biggest as being saucer-size or even worse. As big as dinner plates!! :-o My childish mind may have exaggerated their size, but still, it creeped me out. And I
can't stand 'em!
So, my initial instinct was to stomp on my fellow traveller and crush him/her like a ... well, like a bug, obviously. But I managed to quell this base feeling and did not in fact kill anyone. Aah, how sweet to rise above one's primitive nature. Instead of squashing it, I ...
... rescued it from its hopeless situation in a hostile environment ...
... by letting it actually climb onto my hand ... !! ...
... and released it into some shrubbery by the mall parking lot ...
... where it obviously was much happier. Well, if it had had a brain and could experience happiness it would have been, anyway.
My good deed for the day was well and truly done.
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5 comments:
For en søt liten historie som varmet mitt biologhjerte. :-)
Det ser ut som en bærtege (tror noen kaller dem bærfis), de skiller ut en illeluktende (og illesmakende) kjærtelvæske på bær.
Det er ganske fantastisk å se slike skapninger på nært hold. Takk for fine bilder.
that is funny, I had a little visitor in my hotel room, the little bugger had decided to take a nap in my shoe, only noticed as I was checking out of the hotel, can you imagine the face on the receptionist as I left in mid conversation and took of shoe outside the door. I only got a mail from a bug expert this evening though I think he has it classified wrong
have sent a pic of the little chap to you
Pernille: tusen takk, det var en veldig hyggelig kommentar. Da fikk jeg enda bedre samvittighet for at jeg ikke moste det ekle krypet. ;-) Bærtege, det er meget mulig, jeg pleier å treffe 2 ulike typer teger på min ferd, det er sånne som den på bildene her (skjønt de pleier å være noe mindre) og en annen type som er helt knallgrønn. Stinker gjør de begge to, fysjomatte.
Jeg er helt enig i at insekter er fantastiske, men akkurat teger kan jeg bare ikke noe med. Men nå føler jeg meg litt mildere stemt, jeg skal innrømme det. :-)
Takk for besøket, velkommen tilbake!
Paz: lol, funny story!! I got the picture, and I did a little googling, and this is interesting - in English one of the colloquial names for those beetles is 'snout beetle', and the Norwegian name for them, snutebille, means exactly that. Fun coinkydink IMO. :-) But I guess you would normally call them weevils?
What did the expert tell you since you think he's wrong ... ??
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