George W Bush - Franz Kafka - Jack Kerouac - Brian Cox TV - David Attenborough TV - Bill Oddie TV - Andrew Marr TV - Darell Hammond - David Suzuki - E O Wilson - Bill Vaughan - Saul Bellow - Junot Diaz - M Lee Goff - Charles Darwin - Ogden Nash - Betty Reese - John Muir - Arthur Conan Doyle - William Jacob Holland - Christina Georgina Rossetti - Dante Gabriel Rossetti - William Wordsworth - J B S Haldane - Armand Marie LeRoi - Bill Hamilton - Richard Dawkins TV - Killer Hornets From Hell TV - Lynne Reid Banks - Ancient Aliens TV - The Hellstrom Chronicle 1971 - Sam Harris - Trailer Park Boys 2001-2018 - Adam Curtis TV - Natural World: Nature’s Biggest Beasts TV - Bees, Butterflies & Blooms TV -
I like to dig the soil looking for bugs. George W Bush, cited Michael Moore, Fahrenheit 9/11, 2004
When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis
And all the insects ceased in honour of the moon. Jack Kerouac, Lonesome Traveler
There are over 900,000 known species of insect on the planet. Brian Cox, Wonders of Life IV: Size Matters, BBC 2013
There are several hundred thousand different insects that have been named. David Attenborough, Life on Earth I: The Infinite Variety, BBC 1979
Locusts: in the eyes of man one of the greatest plagues on Earth … the most numerous and varied kind of animal in the world – the insects. David Attenborough, Life on Earth IV: The Swarming Hordes
There may be as many as a million million individual locusts in a single swarm. ibid.
Nearly a million different species of insects. ibid.
Without the moth, the yucca would not be pollinated. ibid.
With the best protection they can muster, the caterpillars industrially put away their food. ibid.
Two highly dramatic transformations ... The caterpillar’s body is breaking down into a kind of soup. ibid.
The Australian Orchid butterfly is ready for flight. ibid.
The Atlas Moth is one of the biggest of all butterflies and moths. ibid.
In this one single termite hill there must live two or three million insects … one single great organism. ibid.
She is a giant egg machine. ibid.
Not all wasps and bees are social. ibid.
Insects are still masters of great parts of the world. ibid.
Only spiders and insects have the ability to produce silk. David Attenborough, The Trials of Life VI: Home Making, BBC 1990
Five million insects have become effectively one. But what a superbly efficient one. David Attenborough, The Trials of Life IX: Friends and Rivals
There are many kinds of beetles in the world. But this one has some of the biggest jaws of all. He is Darwin’s Beetle. He is on his way to the forest to look for a mate. Whether he gets one or not will depend on his strength and on the size of his jaws. David Attenborough, Life e6: Insects, BBC 2009
Insects’ bodies have the capacity to take on an almost infinite variety of shapes. This is one of the keys to their success. ibid.
Dawn: and a newly hatched damselfly. She needs to mate and lay her eggs before sunset. ibid.
A journey of two thousand miles. Her destination is Mexico and one small and special group of trees. No-one knows how she finds them in these great mountain forests. She joins other Monarch butterflies that have travelled here from all over North America. Countless butterflies crowd these particular trees hanging from every branch. ibid.
Flies are one of the most successful of all insects: there are 85,000 different kinds. ibid.
The beetle takes aim and fires formic acid straight at the mongoose’s mouth and eyes. ibid.
All kinds of insects have developed chemical weapons ... The master of chemical warfare is the Bombardier beetle: it can create a chemical reaction within its body so violent that boiling caustic liquid explodes out of its abdomen. ibid.
Working together in such an organised society is the insect’s great innovation. ibid.
It’s a metropolis. Home to millions of ants ... A single colony harvests half a ton of grass a year, more than any other animal on these plains. But since they themselves can’t eat it why do they do so? The answer lies underground ... This is a fungus that is found nowhere else on Earth. And the ants cultivate it assiduously ... They construct their nest so that it has an automatic air conditioning system. ibid.
There may be ten million different kinds of insects. And there are two hundred million individuals for every one of us. ibid.
80% of all insects live in jungles. David Attenborough, Planet Earth e8: Jungle, BBC 2006
Plants and insects evolved together, driving their mutual diversity. David Attenborough’s Kingdom of Plants I, BBC 2012
Human nostrils can only detect about 5% of them; insects do very much better. David Attenborough’s Kingdom of Plants II: Solving the Secrets
Insects can smell a flower from as much as a mile away. ibid.
The rich foliage provides hidden habitats for whole communities of tiny insect herbivores and their predators. For many, leaves are food. ibid.
Insects alone make up at least 80% of all animal species. David Attenborough’s First Life 2/2, BBC 2010
Mayflies, Europe’s largest ... The ancestral mayflies were among the first creatures of any kind to take to the air about three hundred and twenty million years ago. David Attenborough, Life in the Undergrowth II, BBC 2005
This insect must have had a wingspan as big as a seagull. ibid.
Living dragonflies can reach speeds of nearly forty miles an hour. ibid.
Many beetles have grown very large ... The Titan is now known to be the biggest of all beetles. ibid.
Cicadas ... they may be millions of them in a single acre of land. ibid.
Hard-wired into the microscopic brain of this ordinary looking insect are a whole series of skills, sensitivities and reactions that will enable it in its turn to give its own offspring a special start in life. David Attenborough, Life in the Undergrowth IV: Intimate Relations
Leafcutter ants ... they are all members of one highly organised society. David Attenborough, Life in the Undergrowth V: Supersocieties
Every insect society is full of conflict, power struggles and mutinies. ibid.
There are the Giant Asiatic Bees – the biggest of all honey-bees. ibid.
The unmistakable acrid smell of formic acid. ibid.
Ants live almost anywhere. ibid.
The champions by far are these tiny creatures – termites. ibid.
Titan Beetle – the world’s largest insect. ibid.
About four hundred million years ago new creatures appeared which were to be the forerunners of probably the most successful group of all animals without backbones, the insects. David Attenborough: Life on Earth (revised series)
Some little creatures developed wings ... Insects were the first creatures to take to the air. ibid.