Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2021, issue 78, Winged Insects i Eco Kids Planet Magazine

It ain’t easy being this big and – let’s face it – ugly. For a start, I think the editor had wanted some supermodel butterfly to introduce this issue. Perhaps she was busy, so they made do with me. Anyway, by the time this is published, I won’t even be around… I’m not complaining! I had many exciting years as a grub. My days were mainly spent under a rock in a stream, eating insects. I looked totally different in my immature state, of course. I was pretty much what you’d imagine a dobsonfly to look like in larva form – NOT very pretty. The clue’s in my many names: hellgrammite, grampus, go-devil, toe-biter or, my personal favourite, crawlerbottom. Which describes my daily routine on the riverbed fairly accurately, as…

This gem of an insect hovers on the edge of extinction. It’s only found in a few places in the USA and Canada, but scientists are coming up with some clever ways to help this scarce dragonfly survive. Who was Hine? The Hine’s emerald dragonfly is named after Professor James S Hine – a brilliant American entomologist who lived over 100years ago. It’s called emerald because of its shiny green body and those big, bright green eyes! Fragile homes Hine’s emeralds live in wetlands in just four states of the USA and only one province of Canada. These marshy habitats are very fragile. They are at risk of being damaged by: when wetlands are turned into farmland or land for building on. when harmful chemicals get into the…

Many flowers are changing their colour as the world gets warmer. It’s to protect themselves from the sun’s ultraviolet radiation. (It can cook their pollen, which damages it.) But don’t rush out to see. They won’t look any different to us. It’s their ultraviolet-absorbing parts that are changing. These are like sunscreen for plants. The more the petals contain, the less harm the sun’s radiation can do to them. But the changes aren’t invisible to bees and other pollinating insects. The flowers will look darker to them. It might make it harder for them to spot the colourful flowers they like to land on.…

Have you ever felt an electric shock whilst going down a slide or jumping on a bouncy castle? Or when touching someone or an object? Welcome to the world of static electricity! It’s the same electricity that makes your hair stand on end when you rub a balloon on it! Get ready to make your own static electricity – we’re going to make grasshoppers jump! What you need: Tissue paper (we recycled some that was sent in a package) Pen Scissors Clothing (woolly jumpers work best) Balloon What to do: Step 1: Draw your grasshopper. Looking at a photo from one of our magazines or the internet will help. Cut it out. Step 2: Place your grasshopper on a flat surface. Step 3: Blow up your balloon. If you have a woolly…

FIVE budding artists will win this fabulous butterfly tattoo book from Storey Publishing. Over 80 illustrated temporary tattoos introduce creatures with amazing colours and realistic features, from the brilliant blue morpho cypris butterfly to the garden tiger moth, the jewel beetle and the peacock pansy butterfly. Accompanied by fascinating facts about each insect, the tattoos come in sheets and are ready to be applied with a damp cloth, offering bright, bold body art. The tattoos are easy to apply and safe to wear, lasting for several days. RRP: £6.99 How to submit your entries: Email a photo of your creation to win@ecokidsplanet.co.uk before 10th May 2021. Please make sure you include your full name, age and address, so we know how to reach you.…

We already know insects are awesome but let’s take a look at some of their spectacular superpowers! SUPER-HUNTER! The Flash of the insect world, dragonflies can fly backwards as well as forwards with equal speed, and have ace manoeuvring skills. Lions catch less than 40% of their prey (what?!) but dragonflies catch over 95% of theirs (wow!). How do dragonflies do it? TIME-BENDING! Why hello, Dr Strange… A dragonfly’s eyes take up most of its head. And a dragonfly’s vision is so fast, it experiences time differently from us. Dragonflies basically see the world in SLOWMOTION! LOOK The human eye catches 20-60 images per second, while a dragonfly’s eye catches 300. IMAGINE They react in 30 milliseconds – spot fly, take off, catch fly, BOOM! (Before we’ve even blinked.) SUPER-STRENGTH! Forget Superman,…

SUPER SLUG SKILL! Hi, Rusty fans! Here’s something amazing that definitely beats all Rhona’s news. Scientists have discovered sea slugs that can cut off their own heads! OK, a few animals can lose body parts. It’s great how some lizards can drop off their tails to confuse a predator. But these slugs take it to a whole new level! They can shed their WHOLE BODY – including their beating heart and other major organs. Just their head is left, but it stays alive, without a heart. The head even goes on feeding. How? I don’t know. What do you think I am, a slug expert? But it doesn’t stop there. Then the slug grows a whole new body, including a brand-new heart and all those other organs! They may do…

Welcome to another fantastic newsletter, packed with great stuff! Oh, and there’s my annoying little brother Rusty’s page, too. ANIMAL RESCUES! Let’s start with some of the best recent RSPCA animal rescues. A badger got its bum stuck in a gate in Essex! The poor animal was completely wedged there. An RSPCA inspector had to use a car jack from her van to wedge the iron gate apart. Only then did it have enough space to wriggle free. But the badger wasn’t injured at all and ran off quite happily. I don’t think the gate was in such good shape… A barn owl had to be rescued from a disused building in Wales. Local people spotted it peeking out of a top floor window! The trapped owl most likely flew…

I discovered that moths are not only misunderstood – they are magnificent! Fantastically diverse in size, they range from mini micro-moths to massive Atlas moths, wider than a handspan! Their colours can be dull but also glorious! Moth shapes and patterns are just as diverse: looping and strange, or small and plain. Their furry bodies are perfect for pollinating plants, and eco-awesome moths feed bats and birds – and even people! Why moths matter Moths (and butterflies) are an excellent way of measuring a healthy environment and ecosystem. Moths are useful for studying habitat loss and climate change, because so many other species depend on them for food. Moths (and butterflies) and their caterpillars are at the bottom of the food chain. They make up most of the diet of…

Voodoo wasps that control zombie caterpillars! So-called voodoo wasps lay their eggs inside a caterpillar’s body. Then the larvae (baby wasps) turn the caterpillar into a mindless babysitter to watch over them! One tiny wasp injects about 80 eggs in one go inside the caterpillar. The baby wasps hatch in there and feed on the caterpillar’s bodily fluids. When they’re ready to leave, they release chemicals that stop the caterpillar moving. Then they eat their way out through its skin – all at the same time! Next, they attach themselves to a branch or leaf to spin cocoons for themselves. They’ll turn into wasps inside those cosy, protective cases. But here’s where things get truly weird… Remember the poor caterpillar? Well, it’s still alive. And now the larvae seem to…

Top tip: Add the body of the butterfly to an egg, glue on the wings and use pipe cleaners for antennae. Top tip: Put some light brown craft paint on an old toothbrush to speckle the eggs. Top tip: Use watercolour paint to decorate your eggs with delicate butterflies.…