9/12/13

9/12/13

Today class was in Morril Hall. Dr. Alleyne allowed us to explore her lab. We opened the class with  bit of background information on what she does and her goals. After a short discussion with her and her assistant she invited us to take a look around the lab. Immediately I was drawn to the ants in the back. Her assistant showed me how trap-jaw ants have the fastest movement in the animal kingdom. It was really amazing. He even was able to demonstrate it for me. Their jaws have a force 300 times more powerful than their own weight. To me that was incredible.

I took a few notes on some of the bugs

~Cockroaches are nearly indestructible. They have the ability to live through a nuclear apocalypse. Why is that?
~Lubber grasshoppers are known as "Diablo" which is devil in spanish if I am remembering correctly.
~Aposematism- Colorful but dangerous
~Desert Tenebroid Beetle- They change color according to their temperature.
~Flies use predigested fluids to eat liquid food

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFuHNxkygcM
Here is a link Dr. Alleyne's assistant showed me. It is a high speed camera video taping the Trap Jaw ants. He filmed it himself.