The Adventures of a Doodlebug | A Real Bug's Life | National Geographic

less than 1m read

·Nov 10, 2024

After three years devouring roots in the soil, the doodlebug's terrible transformation is complete. From greedy grub to beastly beetle. Aw, he's kinda cute now. But don't be fooled. He only has one thing on his mind: making more crop-destroying doodlebugs. Yep, he's out looking for love.

And those adorable antennae give him his pickup superpower. Mm-hmm, he's feeling the feminine pheromones. They're lifting him higher. Even though he's never flown before, thanks to millions of years of evolution, somehow, he instinctively—

Yo, doodle! Get off your back. The clock's ticking. A female! Gotta make a good first impression. Nice landing. Now, let's just hope she likes him. Oh. Oh, okay. I guess she likes him.

And our little Casanova even has a few moves. Hey, this is a family show. The female will go lay their 80 eggs in the soil. More little root-munchers, ready for next year. But now, this little lover wants more. Classic doodlebug.

Oh, well. Once he's back on his feet, he can mate every night of his short life and become a real player on the pest scene. Or, maybe not.

Witness to Steve Irwin's Death - Smarter Every Day116

Be Wary of Solving a Small, Rare Problem - Des Traynor of Intercom

View All

Local linearity for a multivariable function

So a lot of the concepts that you learn about in multivariable calculus are really all about taking ideas that you originally might have learned in linear algebra and then transferring those to apply to nonlinear problems. So for example, I’m going to gi…

Why Is Your BOTTOM in the MIDDLE?

Hey, Vsauce. Michael here. A human, running like a quadruped, is creepy. Artist Rui Martins created this animation about a year ago. 127 years ago, Eadweard Muybridge shot these real images of a child with infantile paralysis walking on all fours. Walking…

Steve Varsano featured by Business Jet Traveler August 2015

With the cost of pre-owned jets coming down, this is an opportune time for business ship travelers to consider moving up to full ownership of an aircraft. We spoke to some industry insiders about this value proposition. Owning an aircraft is not for every…

Wayfinding Through the Human Genome | Podcast | Overheard at National Geographic

Foreign Fox and I’m an indigenous futurist and genome scientist of all kinds of varieties, humans, bacteria, you name it. Kale Fox is a National Geographic Explorer. He’s also the first native Hawaiian to get a PhD in genome science. This idea of indigeno…

Introducing a New Cheetah! – Day 81 | Safari Live

Interim! Let’s send you all the way on down-south, 1,600 miles to Scott. Hello everyone! You may have just seen a bird fly through the thick undergrowth there. We were hoping it would stick around. So, it’s calling it “say orange-breasted bush shrike,” a…

How can I keep all my smart devices secure?

So Mark, so far we’ve talked a lot about device security, and when we talk about devices, at least in my mind, I imagine my phone, I imagine my laptop, a tablet, maybe a smart watch. But there’s actually a much broader universe of devices—smart devices, y…

The Adventures of a Doodlebug | A Real Bug's Life | National Geographic

More Articles