FILE 001Insects🐛600 to 1,500 metersA single silkworm cocoon yields one continuous filament typically 600 to 1,500 meters long.SrcFAO — Silk Reeling and Testing ManualPass the claimOpen file
FILE 002Insects🐜Shareliving bridgesArmy ants build living bridges from their own bodies, then dynamically lengthen and shift them as traffic changes.SrcPNAS (Reid et al., 2015)
FILE 003Insects🐜Share66 million years agoFungus-farming ants began cultivating crops about 66 million years ago — long before human farming.SrcSmithsonian / Science (Schultz et al., 2024)
FILE 004Insects🪳Shareweeks without its headA cockroach can survive weeks without its head — it breathes through body spiracles and eventually dies of thirst, not brain loss.SrcScientific American
FILE 005Insects🐝Sharewaggle danceHoneybees communicate food location with a waggle dance that encodes direction and distance relative to the sun — work that helped win a Nobel Prize.SrcNobel Prize press release 1973
FILE 006Insects🦟Sharemore than 700,000 people a yearVector-borne diseases kill more than 700,000 people a year; mosquitoes transmit major killers including malaria, dengue, yellow fever, and Zika.SrcWorld Health Organization
FILE 007Insects🪳Shareresilin padFleas power jumps by storing energy in a resilin pad and releasing it in under a millisecond — too fast for muscle alone.SrcJournal of Experimental Biology
FILE 008Insects🦗Share97% capture successDragonflies can snatch prey mid-air with up to about 97% capture success in lab pursuit trials — among the highest hunting rates measured.SrcIntegrative and Comparative Biology
FILE 009Insects🦋Sharemore than 3,000 milesMonarch butterflies migrate more than 3,000 miles to Mexico; the southbound trip is completed by a multi-generation cycle.SrcU.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
FILE 010Insects🦗Share40–80 million adultsA 1 km² desert locust swarm can hold 40–80 million adults and eat as much in a day as about 35,000 people.SrcFAO Locust Watch
FILE 011Insects🦟Sharefemale mosquitoes biteOnly female mosquitoes bite people and animals — they need a blood meal to produce eggs. Males feed on nectar and do not bite.SrcCDC — About Mosquitoes
FILE 012Insects🪲Share100°CBombardier beetles mix chemicals in a reaction chamber to fire a defensive spray that reaches about 100°C — hot enough to scald predators.SrcScience (Aneshansley et al., 1969)
FILE 013Insects🪲Share1,141 times its own body weightA male Onthophagus taurus dung beetle has been measured pulling up to 1,141 times its own body weight — among the highest relative strengths recorded in insects.SrcProceedings of the Royal Society B (Knell & Simmons, 2010)
FILE 014Insects🐝Sharehoneybee produces only about 1/12 of a teaspoon of honeyA single honeybee produces only about 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in its entire lifetime. It takes the collective effort of approximately 60,000 bees traveling 55,000 miles to produce one pound of honey.SrcNASA HoneyBeeNet / Texas A&M honey bee facts
FILE 015Insects🕷️ShareDarwin's bark spiderThe Darwin's bark spider of Madagascar produces silk that is <hl>10 times tougher than Kevlar</hl> and can spin webs across rivers spanning up to 82 feet — the largest orb webs ever recorded.SrcPLOS ONE
FILE 016Insects🐜Share20 quadrillion antsScientists estimate about 20 quadrillion ants live on Earth at once — roughly 12 megatons of dry carbon, exceeding the combined biomass of wild birds and mammals.SrcPNAS (Schultheiss et al., 2022)
FILE 017Insects🪲Share400,000 known species of beetlesThere are roughly 400,000 known species of beetles — more than any other order of living organism. Biologist J.B.S. Haldane reportedly quipped that God has "an inordinate fondness for beetles."SrcNatural History Museum, London
FILE 018Insects🐜ShareLeafcutter antsLeafcutter ants don't eat the leaves they carry — they use them to cultivate fungus gardens underground. This agricultural system evolved approximately 50 million years ago, making ants the world's first farmers.SrcSmithsonian Institution
FILE 019Insects💡ShareFirefliesFireflies produce light through a chemical reaction called bioluminescence that is nearly <hl>100% efficient</hl> — almost no energy is lost as heat. For comparison, a standard incandescent light bulb wastes 90% of its energy as heat.SrcNational Geographic
FILE 020Insects🦋ShareAtlas mothThe Atlas moth of Southeast Asia has the largest wing surface area of any insect — up to <hl>62 square inches</hl>. Adults have no mouths and cannot eat; they survive entirely on fat reserves from their caterpillar stage and live only 1–2 weeks.SrcNatural History Museum, London