BRILLIANT BUGS!

We often like to think that humans are the dominant species here on planet Earth. But, in many ways, insects are the ultimate success stories of the animal kingdom.

Did you know, for example, that around three quarters of all known animal species are insects? They include butterflies, beetles, ants, flies, bees, wasps and grasshoppers, along with many other kinds of creepy-crawly. (Animals that are not insects, though which are sometimes mistaken for them, include spiders, centipedes, millipedes, scorpions, crabs, snails, earthworms and woodlice.)

Insects are able to survive in all kinds of

Three Quarters Of Animal Species Are Insects

Insects

73O/O

Insects make up around three quarters of all known animal species.

NEARLY HALF OF ALL INSECT SPECIES ARE BEETLES natural habitats, both on land and in water, and have been living on Earth for hundreds of millions of years.

And although they come in different shapes and sizes, insects do share some things in common. Insects are all invertebrates (animals without a backbone) and have a hard, protective exoskeleton and six jointed legs.

Beetles form the largest insect group of all, with around 360,000 known species and a million or more that we’ve yet to discover. In fact, one beetle expert once found 1,200 species of beetle living in a single tree!