docInsect Bully Bamboozlers - Insect Sciences Museum of California
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Insect Bully Bamboozlers - Insect Sciences Museum of California
Insect Bully Bamboozlers Seven-spotted Lady Beetle Defense Strategies My legs are too short to run very fast. My hard exoskeleton helps to protect me from predators. Ants are the worst! I have a poison. It tastes bad. My warning colors let predators know that I am nobody’s delicacy. If all this fails I drop down into plant foliage, hide, or play dead. When you are gone I use my wings to fly away. Copyright 2012. Insect Sciences Museum of California Insect Bully Bamboozlers Yellowjacket Wasp Defense Strategies Shouldn’t it be enough that my warning colors say that I might sting? I will not run from any fight. It is you who should run! I play dead for nobody. I do not hide. I do not fly away! I need no hard exoskeleton. Test my resolve and you will be stung again and again. Copyright 2012. Insect Sciences Museum of California Insect Bully Bamboozlers Darkling Beetle Defense Strategies Most of the time I just hide out under tree bark and ground debris. I am too slow to run. I am too big to hide. When I play dead nobody takes me seriously. Life stinks! And so will I if you get too close. Come check out my booty dance! Copyright 2012. Insect Sciences Museum of California Insect Bully Bamboozlers Caterpillar of Anise Swallowtail Defense Strategies No more than a tasty meat sausage on legs am I. Woe is me! I am too big to hide and too fat to run. Camouflage is my salvation. I look like the plant I live on. When predators do find me I unleash a nasty odor from tubes inside of my head. Not the best of defenses, I know, but it comes in handy when I am in a pinch! Copyright 2012. Insect Sciences Museum of California Insect Bully Bamboozlers Jerusalem Cricket Defense Strategies I’m ugly. I know. It just runs in the family. Ugly keeps predators from picking on me. The reality is that I’m good fried in butter. I do whatever I can to not be someone’s meal. I hide, burrow, play dead, kick and bite. Some say I scream. I do all this to see just one more day. Ugly works for me! Copyright 2012. Insect Sciences Museum of California Insect Bully Bamboozlers European Earwig Defense Strategies Now, if you cannot see the pair of pincers at the end of my abdomen it’s you that’s gonna have the problem. I will pierce human skin. For smaller bullies - like mice - I make a really good nose earring. Handle me and get a foul odor. What you see is what you get! Copyright 2012. Insect Sciences Museum of California Insect Bully Bamboozlers Flower Fly Defense Strategies Am I a bee or a fly? To those trained by a past sting they know it is better to not tempt fate. I am a fly that counts on my good looks to get by. I visit flowers, buzz loudly, and pump my abdomen like bees do to keep up appearances. Let’s just keep my true identity between us, okay? Copyright 2012. Insect Sciences Museum of California Insect Bully Bamboozlers Praying Mantis Defense Strategies Now you see me. Now you don’t. Camouflage helps me to evade predators. I look exactly like the leaves and sticks that I live on. I can see all around my body at the same time. So, I see you way before you see me! If that’s not enough, I have a couple of hooks on my front legs that I would love to show you. Copyright 2012. Insect Sciences Museum of California Insect Bully Bamboozlers Insects evade predators in varied and interesting ways. They run, kick and even scream to get away. See how well you know your insect bully bamzoozlers. Place a checkmark next to each defense strategies used by the insect pictured. Lady Beetle Jerusalem Cricket 9 9 9 9 9 9 bite or pinch camouflage fall into foliage fly away hard exoskeleton hide 9 9 9 9 9 9 look like I sting play dead poison run away fast smell or taste bad warning colors Yellowjacket Wasp 9 9 9 9 9 9 bite or pinch camouflage fall into foliage fly away hard exoskeleton hide 9 9 9 9 9 9 bite or pinch camouflage fall into foliage fly away hard exoskeleton hide 9 9 9 9 9 9 bite or pinch camouflage fall into foliage fly away hard exoskeleton hide 9 9 9 9 9 9 bite or pinch camouflage fall into foliage fly away hard exoskeleton hide 9 9 9 9 9 9 look like I sting play dead poison run away fast smell or taste bad warning colors 9 9 9 9 9 9 look like I sting play dead poison run away fast smell or taste bad warning colors 9 9 9 9 9 9 look like I sting play dead poison run away fast smell or taste bad warning colors 9 9 9 9 9 9 look like I sting play dead poison run away fast smell or taste bad warning colors Earwig 9 9 9 9 9 9 bite or pinch camouflage fall into foliage fly away hard exoskeleton hide 9 9 9 9 9 9 look like I sting play dead poison run away fast smell or taste bad warning colors Darkling Beetle Flower Fly 9 9 9 9 9 9 bite or pinch camouflage fall into foliage fly away hard exoskeleton hide 9 9 9 9 9 9 look like I sting play dead poison run away fast smell or taste bad warning colors Swallowtail Caterpillar Praying Mantis 9 9 9 9 9 9 bite or pinch camouflage fall into foliage fly away hard exoskeleton hide 9 9 9 9 9 9 look like I sting play dead poison run away fast smell or taste bad warning colors Copyright © 2012 Insect Sciences Museum of California Name: Date:
