Crazy Insect Factoids

Crazy Insect Factoids

I provided you with some interesting facts about just how many insects inhabit this planet with us the other day, but that doesn’t even compare to how these guys live and breathe. They are built unlike any other creature, and their structure can come with some pretty amazing abilities. Here is another dose of crazy insect factoids!

Just like humans, insects inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. However, they don’t use their mouths for this. Insects actually breathe through tiny holes called spiracles in their exoskeletons. And their breathing isn’t the strangest part of their anatomy. Unlike humans who have a closed circulatory system where blood is moved through arteries and veins, insects have an open circulatory system. This means that their heart, which is located along their back, contracts to push blood first towards the head, from which it then flows back into the rest of the body bathing their organs as it goes.

One body part that scientists are particularly fascinated by are the eyes on insects. Insects have compound eyes, which are made up of many individual visual units. These individual units capture what we would consider a pixel of an image. All of the eyes work together to piece together these pixels so that they make one whole image. It’s similar to the way a computer picture is really made up of thousands of tiny pixels.

Do you find the insect body pretty fascinating? Do you wish you had any of these traits?