“Are there bugs that get on other bugs?”
The Eight-Year-Old, watching Canelo stalk a spider in our sunroom: “Mommyo, are there bugs that get on other bugs?” Yes. There are also frogs who get on bugs. Click through for pictures.
Read article“What are saddle bugs?”
I have been fielding so many questions about butterflies, moths, and ticks, that when The Eight-Year-Old asked me what a saddle bug was, I leapt to the obvious and told her I thought it was a type of flea. Spoiler alert: It’s not. As far as I can tell, my daughter was actually thinking about a type of caterpillar.
Read articleScience News Roundup: Bon Voyage, Happy Feet, and Hello, Cyberbugs
From Radio New Zealand comes word that Happy Feet, the Emperor Penguin who was stranded on a New Zealand beach last June, is finally on his way home in a specially designed ice crate. Despite encountering some rough sailing conditions south of New Zealand, New Zealand’s largest research vessel, the…
Read articleWordless Wednesday: Obligatory summer caterpillar post
It’s not summer if I don’t have at least one bug post. Google tells me this caterpillar will probably grow up to be a Western Tussock Moth.
Read article“Why does bug spray smell so icky?”
I don’t know about you, but I have a terrible time convincing anyone in my family to wear bug spray. It just smells so bad. Sadly, that stink is why bug spray works.
Read articleWhere’s my Caterpickles?
The Ten-Year-Old was lecturing me the other day about how I haven’t answered her question about which modern instrument evolved from the sackbut yet. She wanted to know what I’d been doing instead, and when I told her I’d been writing a book, said, “Mommyo, you should let everyone else know that, too.”
Read articleWordless Wednesday: The Ten-Year-Old tours Jurassic World at the Field Museum
Scenes from The Ten-Year-Old’s recent trip to Jurassic World at the Field Museum, Chicago.
Read articleThrowback Thursday: “Did kittens get their name in Britain?”
Sometime last year, The Five-Year-Old discovered the highly informative children’s book series “The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That.” The books relay all kinds of fun facts about the natural world in a Seussian rhyme scheme. The lively presentation has convinced The Five-Year-Old that words that rhyme have some special connection, if only she can find it. Recently, my daughter realized that kitten rhymes with Britain. So naturally she wanted to know, “Mommyo, did kittens get their name in Britain?”
Read articleThe short but exceptionally adventurous life of Nicholas Nickleby, Cricket
This week, The Nine-Year-Old’s plans to raise an orchestra of crickets hit a snag when she discovers that crickets and cats do not make good housemates. For the last project of the year, The Nine-Year-Old’s science teacher has decreed that The Nine-Year-Old and all of her classmates are to adopt and take care of…
Read article“How does a salamander catch a dragonfly?”
When my four-year-old daughter learned that land-based salamanders eat dragonflies (among other things), her mind had a question: “Mommyo, how do salamanders catch dragonflies?”
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