A Bug's Life

Kevin Hernandez - UNT Social Science Major

January 28th is a characteristically warm “winter” day for North Texas. A slight breeze makes it pretty much perfect and there is almost no one outside doing what I am doing or even just being outside for the sake of being outside. I am observing an area around an oak tree when I notice a ladybug at my feet walking across the sidewalk to the wood chips and greenery. She (or he) is a pale orange and has fourteen spots. She flexes her wings but makes no indication of making this moment fleeting. Instead, she walks, at a very leisurely pace and her path meanders through the fallen dead leaves. In the course of the roughly 30 minutes I watched her, she barely makes it to the two paces to the tree. This makes this somewhat of an exercise in patience. It turns out a bug’s life is not so exciting. More specifically, the ladybug, who will now be referred to as Scarlet, is a beetle. And more generally, a ladybug actually refers to a large umbrella of many different kinds of such. Ranging from brown with white spots to yellow with black spots to black with red spots to even no spots, this ladybug is one that many are familiar with. But how familiar? I found myself asking questions that most people who aren’t observing a bug would probably never ask. I noticed, although she flexed her wings, she chose not to fly when the gap between leaves or sticks was greater than what she could stretch to. Is the energy expenditure too great? Can its small wings carry its bulbous body very far? Then I noticed her cross paths with a black ant and, to my disappointment, there was no bug fight. In aquariums, the fish don’t eat each other because they are well fed or are, obviously, not carnivorous. Does the same principle apply here? Additionally, as in the aquarium, acknowledgement of the other is nearly nonexistent even among similar species. As organisms become less complex what is lost on them that we have gained? Now in returning to being well fed, I was aware of the fact that ladybugs are a natural enemy and efficient predator of the aphid. Aphid, is another umbrella term, used for those small usually green pests that destroy crops. Contrary to their appearance and given personas, ladybugs can actually be quite the carnivore, some even eat other beetles and larva. So, in her short journey, where was she going? What was the goal, if not to find one of these sources of food? Perhaps and honestly there wasn’t one but I did learn that it isn’t exactly about that. It’s more about the importance of exploring on your own and being curious about the world around you.