The Bear Minimum

I’d like to share another post based on my fondness for the natural world.

Today, for instance, I found an article on the National Geographic website, which, by the way dear reader, I recommend highly to everyone. The website, that is. Anyway, on this particular day I noticed a small article on Fireflies. These intriguing little insects, which are actually winged beetles, are known for their delightful ability to glow.

There’s not all that many creatures in the natural world which glow, so it’s a pretty special little group of insects (well, around 2,000 species, really) that we’re looking at here, dear reader. Basically, fireflies have a special organ, located under their abdomens, which they take oxygen into, and combine it in special cells with a chemical in there called luciferin, and the combination of which forms light with almost no radiant heat.

These little critters also manage to turn the light on and off, and each subspecies has their own type of blinking pattern, and large groups of fireflies have on occasion been known to blink in unison.

Scientists don’t yet know how or why fireflies blink, or how they can blink in unison, and that, to my mind dear reader, adds to their beauty. That mystery, so quiet and simple, in such an unassuming little bug. A bug that only tends to live for about two months, yet one that produces such displays as to enchant many world wide.

I do appreciate that about the animal kingdom, that there lives are often quite brief, and yet there’s often such stunning displays that coincide with those short lies. Take the butterfly for instance. A creature which has a life span of about 48 hours, and yet is the source of great admiration world wide!

I think I’m going to go and sit and watch my local wild life this evening, dear reader, and I hope you do too! Perhaps I’ll leave some food out for the local foxes and badgers, as well.