Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Korea has massive insects




I was walking home from lunch the other day and I saw a moth the size of my hand laying on a drain. I tiptoed carefully so as not to scare it. When it didn't move, I nudged it with my toe. Completely nonreactive, I was nearly convinced that it was fake. I looked around for cameras thinking I might be like those poor suckers on a reality TV shows who are duped somehow or another for the benefit of an audience sitting comfortably on their cushy couch laughing at the stupidity of the one caught on camera. "Candid Camera" came to mind and I was really perfect for the role. I scare, scream and faint at the drop of a hat. Seriously, Kyle can terrify me in our own home by the element of surprise even when I know he is home. Dozing in my own private day dream movie, all he has to do is appear in my line of sight where I don't expect anything but a coffee table to be, and I have all but left my skin behind and probably frightened the neighbors with my shrieks. As I stare down at this ginormous moth, I almost expected a string to be attached waiting for it's victim to follow to an embarrassing moment, but hilarious for onlookers. It was the largest insect I have seen in my life and it looked too big to be real. After determining the things authenticity, I tentatively touched it. There was no movement.

Lifting, without damaging the poor creature was a difficult task. Yellow dust particles flew off as I carried him towards our house. Kyle was sick at home and I knew if anyone would appreciate a moth made in the image of his sci-fi books, it would be my husband. We kept him long enough to take his picture, as I couldn't just pass up the opportunity to document such a large insect. He is not the only mammoth size insect Korea has. They also have alarmingly large bees that look at least three times the size of a normal bee, about the size of a thumb. But nothing is quite as disarming as the spiders with webs at least four feet wide with bodies half the size of my palms.

I am happy as long as he continues to eat the annoying insects such as mosquitoes and gnats, but he seriously makes me think of the spider monster in Lord of the Rings. I just hope she doesn't start to catch teachers in her web. I'd be Okay if she caught a few of the administration though. In fact, I might lure them to her web for her.




A beetle just hanging out on our towel!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rather interesting blog you've got here. Thanks the author for it. I like such topics and everything connected to them. I definitely want to read a bit more on that blog soon.

Kate Swenson

Bekah said...

ummmm wow. huge!