Essays

Moseying: Exploring the Natural World

Sign your child up for bug camp!
June 2, 2010

Students in grades 4-6 have been known to develop their lifelong interests during those years. Children ages 9-12 have begun to develop analytical skills, and often become fascinated with one subject. The Sibley Nature Center’s “Bug Camp” occurs every summer, with camps in June July, and August. The camps have already signed kids up for half the spots (who are mostly returning students.)  The dates are June 7 to 11th, July 12-15th, August 9-12th. The class runs 9-12 Monday through Thursday.

Call 432.684.6827 for more information. You may also download a brochure and a registration form.

These kids know that the camp is an adventure – hiking along our trails, stealthily capturing creepy crawlies from scorpions to beetles, and dragonflies to butterflies. The camp teacher, Michael Nickell, has a superb collection of around 3000 insects of the Llano Estacado – the butterfly cases fascinate everyone that takes a look. The invertebrate fauna of the region is still poorly studied. Academic entomologists focus on species harmful to crops and livestock, so even children can find something new to science!

Twice new scientific discoveries have been made at the Sibley Nature Center. The circle dance of rainbugs and the response of insects to a jelly created by cryptogamic soil had never been recorded until seen and photographed along our trails. (You can find photoessays and essays about these discoveries on our website.)  Students in our bug camp have the chance to make similar discoveries – all it takes is getting out and exploring!

One of the most bizarre critters students have found are pseudoscorpions.  Looking for insects and other invertebrates do an incredible job of developing observational skills.  I would grade the youngsters that have found pseudoscorpions as quite proficient observers, because they have seen pseudoscorpions and I bet most adults have not! Pseudoscorpions are tiny arthropods with the pincers of scorpions, but no tail at all. Three pseudoscorpions can fit on the little fingernail of an adult human! Students have found the critters under loose bark on dead mesquite.

Pseudoscorpions often travel about by phoresy. They grab any passing invertebrate and hang on with their pincers. Some grab flying insects and travel great distances. Other just ride beetles for a few feet. One ubiquitous species (the storeroom pseudoscorpion) travels with humans as a familiar, accompanying explorers, migrants and refugees alike. Young pseudoscorpions reach maturity in a year, and individuals can live at least three years.

It is good having a name for the living creatures that share our immediate surroundings. Calling a plant a weed or an insect "those darn bugs," leads to a bullying attitude. "Kill them all," becomes a person's creed. Such ignorance and fear breeds indifference and even hate toward the natural world.

When one learns the name of something, an enrichment of the soul is begun. No longer is the natural world one-dimensional, the person seeing only danger or feeling only revulsion. The more that is learned about the world around us, the more our minds are exercised. Learning is play.

Think of the first emotion that is felt when a person first sees a scorpion - utter stomach-turning distaste. "OOOOh yuck! NASTY!" But, in learning more about scorpions, one discovers marvelous and wondrous things that fill the heart and soul. "WOW!" becomes the emotion. "Look at these scorpions … what are they doing? … oh, my gosh!, they are dancing, holding pincers and bootscooting back and forth - oh WOW!"

Participating in the effort to understand the phenomena of the natural world can absorb an observer. Population explosions occur after rain. In an earlier column, we mentioned the temporary pluvial ecosystem. Flying termites, rainbugs, tarantulas, millipedes, flying ant swarms, and toads all appear in amazing numbers after a rain on the arid Llano Estacado. Midland County has approximately thirty species of ants that swarm after a rain. Millipedes come forth after a rain, looking for rain-softened decaying vegetation, their favorite gastronomical delight. Several species of beetles have similar tastes, joining the millipedes at choice locations.

Because many species of arthropods nest underground, after a rain a dozen holes per square foot can be found. Some belong to various species of ground bees. Others belong to beetles, thread-waisted wasps, and several species of wolf spiders. Each type of critter moves dirt in a different way – piling it, spreading it out, or pushing it in one direction.

A curious observer can spend hours walking about and wondering which creature has done what, and if lucky, can see one at work. After a couple of weeks without rain the activity dwindles. If sufficient rain has fallen, insect herbivores and pollinators (and their predators) become the most visible signs of animal life. We are praying for rain this summer!