Name a product that we use that comes from bugs.
Pretty much everyone knows about honey. Bees make honey by taking nectar and pollen from plants, swallowing it, mixing it with enzymes, heating it to remove much of the water, and throwing it back up again - that's honey! I know what you're thinking - YUCK! Right? Well, don't forget, you've been eating it all your life and it tastes great and it's good for you! Ya' just never know....
But also, pollen
collected from bee hives is also becoming a valuable product for human
health. Indeed, bees are now
being used for many things to help us out! And don't forget, candles
are made from wax!
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J.J.M., 19, from Northern Michigan University, in Marquette, MI, said: Bee
pollen is used as a dietary supplement. It is very popular among
aviculturalists for their birds, and is also beginning to be popular as a
supplement for people. It doesn't taste too wonderful It is a powder. It
is a little sweet. It has a lot of nutrients, and I guess it has some
great antioxidants as well.
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What a lot of people don't realize about bees is how truly dependent upon them we really are. It might be surprising to learn that if it weren't for honeybees, we would not have any food! Most apiculturists (or, beekeepers) don't keep bees for the honey. They make their living by taking their beehives on the back of pickup trucks around to orchards and farmlands all over agricultural US. Believe it or not, this is big business. And honey is just a bonus (it's just gravy!)
The reason this has become such big business is that we have taken trees and
crops and planted them in huge, unnatural numbers. If you have ever driven past
a corn field or
one of California's or Florida's
citrus orchards, you see dramatic examples of this.. There aren't many natural places where you can find this many of one kind of plant.
The bees wouldn't be around in big enough natural concentrations for the plants
to get pollinated. They only make seeds and fruits - the parts we like so much -
after they have been pollinated. Load the bees on the truck! This is more tricky
than you might imagine - lots
of things can go wrong.
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So, aside from bees, what other bugs make stuff for us?
Many of you answered that we get silk from caterpillars. Right! This is one of the oldest products humans have harvested from bugs and it is a huge industry in Asia. The caterpillar is really not very pretty. It makes the silk from glands near its mouth. Just about all caterpillars make silk, some for cocoons, some for holding their chrysalides onto branches and some to walk around on. Actually most caterpillars lay down a trail of silk when they move around so they don't fall off of slippery leaves and so they can find their way back home.
Some young caterpillars even use silk as a safety escape mechanism. While you
are walking in the woods some time this spring and summer, if you look closely,
you might see a flying caterpillar! It will often be hanging in mid-air right in
front of your face. These guys might be up in a tree happily eating leaves when
an ant or a bird comes along and frightens them. They will drop right off of
the leaf, and let out a thin strand of silk to catch them before they crash to
the ground. Then they make the long journey back up the silk strand and finish
eating leaves.
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Those were the easy ones.... but it hardly stops there. Shellac
is a a gloss coating for
wood that is made from - you guessed it - BUGS! It is also used for other
things like phonograph records (albums? you know... those big round black
things?), and fireworks... And in this case, it is made from "true
bugs." The bug is actually called the "lac" bug (Coccus
lacca) and shellac is made from, that's right, it's shell!
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J., a 9 year old homeschooler from Jacksonville, FL, said: Shellac that is used for sealing wax and varnishes is made from the gummy stuff that comes from the Scale insect that lives on trees in Asia. Also a red dye is made from the body of the Scale insect that is found on plants in Mexico and Central America. This information came from a 1957 Grolier Encyclopedia so they have probably found new ways to make these thing by now. But if you needed to you could. Some people think the Scale insects are bad because they kill plants by sucking on the leaves but they are good because useful things come from them.
Way to go J.! And way to cite your work!!
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V.S., 6 years old, from Petronell, Austria, said: Roses. They are a present from the ladybirds, who eat up the aphids.
And we say right! Many insects are now being used to help us control
other insects that we don't like. We usually don't like these insects because
they like to eat our food and that makes us work harder. (We don't always share
well) The newest, best idea in pest control is a method called Integrated
Pest Management (IPM). Mites, wasps, ladybugs and even praying mantids can
be used to control pests without using poisons. IPM uses these biological
control agents in combination with timing plantings to miss major pest
outbreaks and bio-engineering of plants to reduce our dependency of toxic
chemicals in our food.
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T., 15 years old from Seneca High School, in Louisville, KY, said: In many foreign countries many people weave iridescent beetles into ritualistic head dresses and clothing, many other people eat them or use them to cure diseases. In Egypt the scarab is believed to represent new life and is painted onto tomb walls, buried with pharaohs and worshipped. Still in many other countries people often eat bugs which sometimes come in packages and tequila bottles.
Great Answer!!
Get your packaged
bugs here!
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M.T., 16 years old from Sibley-Ocheyedan School, in Sibley, IA, said: Bugs invented paper, sonar, air conditioning, chemical warfare, pharmacology, and specialized workers.
This is a very impressive list. And she's right! We don't use these products
in every case, but the insect world has come up with some great inventions!
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C B, ages 27 and 29 from Canberra Australia, NSW, said: Maggots for the use in treating people with gangrene.
Well, yeah... but that sounds so ... so... yucky! Here's
some more information!
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R G, 47, from Jamaica Plain, MA said: Shellac - Silk from silkworms - Bee stings for arthritis.
That last one sounds like the maggot thing. Find
out here (it's a very in-depth treatment)!
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There are lots and lots more!
But J., 13 years old from Ramapo Ridge Middle School, in Mahwah, NJ, gets the last word: A product that is made from bugs would have to be more regeneration of bugs.
RIGHT! And that gives us all plenty of fascination!
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