Finnish Gr’opper
The conversation went something like this:
Julia’s friend: “Julia, you have a bug in your hair.”
Julia: “Really? Quick! Who’s got the camera?”
I can assure you that this would not be my first question¹. But Julia Faelt continues to be rockin’ awesome, and this picture proves it. But wait, there’s more! After the picture, but before pulling it out of her hair, they did science! Check it out:
“I’m pretty sure the species is Tettigonia viridissima. The picture was taken by a fellow biology-student last August, and it is indeed me the bug is sitting on - in fact we could hardly get her of. It was fascinating to follow how she moved her antennas - it was clear that she could hear very well, as she followed any source of sound (loudly speaking passers by, us experimenting with clapping our hands and calling at her…) with them.”
Awesome photo, Julia!
¹ My first question would have been, “I have hair?!?”
So much for being on an even keel again with posting.... completely overwhelmed IRL right now.
JFargo said,
June 16, 2008 @ 1:21 pm
That’s a BIG Gr’opper!
Very awesome.
tceisele said,
June 17, 2008 @ 7:21 am
Last summer, while dragging a body into the woods[1], my wife called out to me, “I found a really cool grasshopper for you! Hey! It bit me!”[2] It turned out to be very similar to the one in the picture above. It seems that some katydids like this are not entirely herbivorous, and are happy to try to take a small nip out of you.
[1] It was a deer that had been hit by a car just down the road from our house. Some earlier ones that were left laying next to the road just sat there and rotted for months, because the passing traffic scared off the larger scavengers. Once a body is back away from the road at least 40 feet or so, the coyotes and buzzards go to town on it, and every scrap is gone in a few days[3].
[2] It didn’t actually break the skin. Still, I think the fact that she didn’t drop it is a testimony to my wife’s nerves of steel.
[3] So, if you want to dispose of a corpse that you are pretty sure nobody will come looking for in at least a week, leaving it exposed on the surface, unclothed, in an area where large scavengers abound is probably way more effective than the whole “shallow grave” thing. Just so you know.
wright said,
June 17, 2008 @ 8:11 pm
Thanks for the clarification and tip, tceisele! What an educational blog! As they say, the more you know…
SamWibatt said,
June 26, 2008 @ 10:53 am
Yay! I didn’t know there were gr’oppers in Finland - surprisingly, I’d never even thought about it. I know very little about Finland except that they have Nokia, saunas and superb programmers there.