March 3rd, 2006
intervention?
If you spend any amount of time observing or photographing insects and spiders, you’ll know what I mean when I say that things aren’t exactly pretty out there. Sure, there are gorgeous butterflies fluttering among the flowers, and sweet little lady beetles racing up and down plant stems like miniature bumper cars – but the hard truth is that it’s a bug eat bug world. Vegetarianism hasn’t exactly taken the insect world by storm. Survival usually depends on eating someone else before they eat you. And it’s not just the larger fellas like the mantids and the spiders that you have to watch out for. No sir. You might be eaten by a parent or a sibling. You might even be eaten by the offspring of something that laid eggs on you when you weren’t looking. To my mind, life as an insect is risky and, quite frequently, rather gross.
Warning: Before we proceed further, if you’re the sensitive type, you might be better off *not* clicking on some of the following links, or on the thumbnails linked to larger shots. You may well not like what you see.
Now, take for instance the beautiful Hyalophora cecropia caterpillar hanging out at the top of this page. Looks like a pretty carefree life, doesn’t it? Well, the sad news is that this caterpillar was already doomed before I shot this photo. Closer inspection revealed that it had already been victimized by one of several species of insects that lay their eggs on these large caterpillars. Just a few hours after I shot this photo, some species of parasitoids were already hard at work burrowing into its body. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much that could be done for this caterpillar. Just shoot some photos and leave it contently munching on Buckthorn leaves.
Other times, like some downbeat oracle, it’s easy to anticipate trouble ahead long before it happens. That’s when the question of “intervention” arises. Do you try to change what is likely to be, or do you just let nature take its course? I found myself faced with such a dilemma in late August after discovering a very tiny Monarch (Danaus plexippus) caterpillar feeding on the upper leaves of a Common milkweed plant in the garden. It seemed safe for the moment, although I was a little concerned about a spider lurking inside a funnel web on a nearby leaf. However, the spider seemed to be ignoring the caterpillar, so I left them to their own devices with the intention of watching to see how they got on. A couple of days later, while making my insect rounds in the garden, I found that the spider had killed a predatory stinkbug that must have climbed to the top of the milkweed plant. Fortunately, the caterpillar remained unharmed and, in fact, had grown considerably since my last visit. I briefly considered removing the caterpillar to raise in a jar indoors, but decided that I’d leave it in the protection of the spider.
Now, my reason for leaving the Monarch in the garden was not because I wasn’t up to the challenge of rearing a caterpillar. In fact, I’ve been fairly successful at bringing the odd caterpillar indoors to raise when I wanted to photograph a transformation from larva to moth or butterfly. These are a couple of examples of caterpillars which cocooned in a jar in my kitchen in Summer 2004. The first set of photos are of a Rusty Tussock Moth (Orgyia antiqua) and the second set are of a Virginia Tiger Moth (Spilosoma virginica). As you can see, the moths did not appear to suffer from my intervention.
So, why didn’t I bring the Monarch caterpillar indoors? Why did I leave it out in the garden where life or death was entirely up to fate? In truth, I’m not exactly sure. I suppose I felt that the Monarch was probably better off outdoors, picking and choosing what it wanted to eat. After all, rearing insects indoors is not entirely without risk. Sometimes caterpillars die for unknown reasons, so perhaps they’re better off taking their chances out in the garden.
As it turned out, leaving the Monarch in the garden was a bad mistake. The next afternoon, when I checked on the caterpillar and the spider, I found a depressing sight. The fickle-minded spider must have decided to wander off in search of better hunting grounds. In its absence, a predatory stinkbug had seized the opportunity to move in for the kill. I found the Monarch caterpillar, suspended in the remnants of the spider’s web, the stinkbug draining the last dregs of fluid from its lifeless body. Although I’m quite accustomed to gruesome scenes of life and death in the insect kingdom, I felt troubled by the sight of the dead caterpillar. Should I have intervened a day or two before and brought it indoors? Knowing just how high the chances are of a Cecropia being parasitized by one of several species of flies and wasps, should I also attempt to salvage any uninfected caterpillars I come across and raise them indoors?
How far do we carry intervention? Is it right to meddle with nature? Do we deprive one insect of its life, or another of its lunch? It’s a tough call.
Tags: hyalophora cecropia, spilosoma virginica, orgyia antiqua, danaus plexippus
March 4th, 2006 at 12:26 am
Stinkbug gotta eat, too.
It never harms nature to leave it alone. Never. Si?
Can’t choose “life” (species) by the way they look and act. They’re all gamers. Like us. It’s disruptive, of a powerful process.
Disclosure: I have bird feeders. And adopted cats. And I would like to interefere with humans killing whales ‘n marine mammals. Well, any mammals, I think.
Have humans have exceeded nature? Did they leave it when they got tools? The tools made them global exterminators. Is it right to interfere with exterminators? Is it preservation? Humans rise to “dominance” above all animals and exterminate them all. What an odd climax.
“Not quite smart enough to survive.”
Are there millions of dead worlds 5 billion years old?
Are there any that have been saved by REAL humanity?
I am Destroyer of Worlds
The CCC – the creepy, crappy, cruel specie.
March 4th, 2006 at 1:23 am
Tussock Mirth wrote:
Stinkbug gotta eat, too.
It never harms nature to leave it alone. Never. Si?
Can’t choose “life” (species) by the way they look and act. They’re all gamers. Like us. It’s disruptive, of a powerful process.
Well, that’s pretty much how I have come to feel about things. How do you choose one species over another? (You don’t). If I had have written about finding a stinkbug killing tent caterpillars that were defoliating my apple trees, everyone would probably feel like cheering him on.
He’s just doing what comes naturally for him — seeking out caterpillars and killing them. When it comes to food, he’s not too discerning. A Monarch probably tastes about the same as a Tent caterpillar.
The same goes for the big Argiope spiders which I wrote about a day or two ago. They are just doing what comes naturally. Much as I like grasshoppers, to the Argiope, they are the insect equivalent of fat little beef cattle. Can’t hold it against the spiders for catching and eating as many as they can.
Have humans have exceeded nature? Did they leave it when they got tools? The tools made them global exterminators. Is it right to interfere with exterminators? Is it preservation? Humans rise to “dominance” above all animals and exterminate them all. What an odd climax.
“Not quite smart enough to survive.”
Yes, it is an odd climax. Perhaps that’s what happens one creature becomes just a little too dominant. Maybe it becomes too successful and ends up eating itself out of a food supply, space to grow, or one of any number of other catastrophic outcomes.
Glad you stopped by to visit, TM.
-bev
March 4th, 2006 at 2:20 am
Interesting stuff Bev., you’re on my blogroll!
March 5th, 2006 at 12:56 pm
More marvelous photographs, Bev. The cecropia caterpillar is fantastic; I’m perpetually fascinated by caterpillars’ grasping legs, but that one is particularly ornate. Very good depth of field too, one of my major difficulties.
Insects are a world unto themselves, seemingly packing into a few short days all the competition and mayhem that we imagine taking place in much longer time frames.
March 5th, 2006 at 1:18 pm
Thanks, Wayne. Yes, the cecropia certainly do have very grasping legs — and with particularly ornate feet if you can get a close enough look to see them properly. In fact, I’ll post a photo of the feet in a new entry in the blog as many people may not have seen cecropia feet up close.
And yes, insects exist within a fast-paced world that is fascinating and often filled with the stuff of drama. I am constantly aware of this as I move about through the gardens, fields and woods here at the farm while making my “insect rounds” a few times a day from spring through fall. – bev
July 25th, 2006 at 12:49 am
[…] By the way, late this afternoon, I decided to bring a Monarch caterpillar indoors to raise in a container. I found it on a Milkweed leaf in almost the exact spot where I found a little caterpillar last summer. As you might recall if you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, I wrote a piece about that incident, and how I contemplated bringing that caterpillar indoors, finally deciding to leave it on the leaf and continue photographing it each day. A few days later, I found it dead, killed by a predatory stinkbug that I found feeding upon it. I suppose the sight of the dead Hummingbird Moth in the web may have influenced my decision to bring the caterpillar indoors this time. I don’t usually intervene in the lives of insects, but in this case, I’ve decided to make an exception. […]
June 13th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
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