Alex Wild on insects, science, and photography
I watched Attenborough’s Life on Earth when I was about six or seven. The experience was formative for my budding interest in nature. I read the accompanying Life book so often the binding fell apart. That Attenborough has continued to inspire young naturalists for decades, with the same enthusiasm and integrity, is marvelous. So, Happy Attenborough Day! [...]
From the BBC’s Life in the Undergrowth: If you like trapdoor spiders, this past year may have been the best ever: arachnologist Jason Bond recently quintupled the number of known species in North America. Of course, with the discovery of many new species comes the related depressing discovery that many of them are in imminent danger of [...]
A short clip from BBC’s “LIFE” series: For a contrast in narrative style, here’s the American version:
David Attenborough as a spritely young man, believe it or not: Of course, the “vast, unbroken forest” that once extended from Paraguay to the Amazon has long since been plowed under for industrial soy production. (From Zoo Quest: Paraguay [1959])
From the BBC’s Life in the Undergrowth: I love that the editors added little lasso swishy noises in post-processing. Because in real life these animals aren’t quite cool enough.
From the BBC’s amazing Life in the Undergrowth: This story is based on research by Barton et al 2002.
From the BBC’s classic Life in the Undergrowth: For more on bee thermodynamics, I heartily recommend Bernd Heinrich’s Bumblebee Economics.
If I had to make a list of strangest-looking insects, I’d include Madagascar’s giraffe-necked weevils. From the BBC:
Another gem from Attenborough’s “Life” series: Plus, I’ll give a bonus Myrmecos point to the first person to identify the ants to species.
A clip from the BBC’s brilliant Life in the Undergrowth: Per our earlier discussion, the assassin is a true bug in the order Hemiptera.
A personal blog by Illinois-based biologist and photographer Alex Wild.
Myrmecos- derived from the ancient greek word for "ant"- hosts Alex's musings about these and other little creatures that share our planet.
Questions? Email alwild [at] myrmecos.net; or follow @Myrmecos on Twitter.
