Buzz, sting, bite : why we need insects /
by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson ; translated by Lucy Moffatt.
- First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition July 2019.
- xix, 235 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.
"Originally published in 2018 in Norway by J.M. Stenersens Forlag as Insektenes Planet."
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Small creatures, smart design: insect anatomy -- Six-legged sex: dating, mating and parenting -- Eat or be eaten: insects in the food chain -- Insects and plants: a never-ending race -- Busy flies, flavoursome bugs: insects and our food -- The circle of life and death: insects as caretakers -- From silk to shellac: industries of insects -- Life-savers, pioneers and nobel prize-winners: insights from insects -- Insects and us: what's next?.
Insects comprise roughly half of the animal kingdom. They live everywhere-deep inside caves, 18,000 feet high in the Himalayas, inside computers, in Yellowstone's hot springs, and in the ears and nostrils of much larger creatures. There are insects that have ears on their knees, eyes on their penises, and tongues under their feet. Most of us think life would be better without bugs. In fact, life would be impossible without them. Most of us know that we would not have honey without honeybees, but without the pinhead-sized chocolate midge, cocoa flowers would not pollinate. No cocoa, no chocolate. The ink that was used to write the Declaration of Independence was derived from galls on oak trees, which are induced by a small wasp. The fruit fly was essential to medical and biological research experiments that resulted in six Nobel prizes. Blowfly larva can clean difficult wounds; flour beetle larva can digest plastic; several species of insects have been essential to the development of antibiotics. Insects turn dead plants and animals into soil. They pollinate flowers, including crops that we depend on. They provide food for other animals, such as birds and bats. They control organisms that are harmful to humans. Life as we know it depends on these small creatures. With ecologist Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson as our capable, entertaining guide into the insect world, we'll learn that there is more variety among insects than we can even imagine and the more you learn about insects, the more fascinating they become. Buzz, Sting, Bite is an essential introduction to the little creatures that make the world go round.