Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Bioluminescent bugs!?

So, lightning bugs are sooo cool!! Kudos to God for creating such an awesome insect (though I still couldn't bring myself to catch them. I hate bugs!) I didn't get very good pictures, but they seriously look like random Christmas lights in the bushes. So cool. When I first saw them them all blinking in the grassy field, my eyes lite up, they started watering (I was nearly crying with joy), and I squealed like a schoolgirl! They are fantastic!!
They are slender beetles and the glow part is on their butt, just on the under side, so if they're on a leaf or something they're kind hard to see. Good thing they fly! Lightning bugs glow to attract a mate. I learned that different species emit different sequences of flashes, like their own special Morse code!
We went out to Sunday to make our very own lightning-bug-in-a-jar lantern, but we could only catch 3 of them. They are faster than we've been told, and it was too dark. Our first one was in the grass just beaming away. Danny snatched the next one right out of the air! And the last one was on a leaf. We had them in a jar and poked holes in the top so they could breath. Then we brought them home to save for Azilyn to see the next day.
Well, come to find out, they only glow at night. We put them in a dark room to simulate night, but nope, just at night. So, Danny stuck em outside (so they wouldn't crawl through their air holes?? I dont know why), and, well just imagine being inside a 100 degree glass oven! Yep, they died. Well, they were mostly dead. So, being the little live saver that I am, I put a few drops of water in the jar in attempts to revive them. One of them, definitely dead. Another, went straight for the water. The third was just too weak. She tried and struggled, but there was just no hope. She faintly gave her last glow. I let them go their ways of all the earth yesterday. Only the strong survived.

1 comment:

Tif said...

Wow thats cool smash! I've always wanted to see these things glow.