the.com/insect
the six-legged super-majority that quietly built and runs the entire planet
means A small invertebrate animal with a three-part body, six legs, and usually wings, belonging to the largest group in the animal kingdom.
from From Latin insectum, 'cut into,' the past participle of insecare (in- 'into' + secare 'to cut'). The Romans were describing the body's pinched, segmented look — those notches that divide head, thorax, and abdomen as if the creature had been scored with a knife. This was itself a translation of the Greek entomon, 'cut up,' the same root that gives us entomology. So every insect is, etymologically, a thing made of cut-apart pieces.
- head count
- roughly 10 quintillion alive at any moment
- breathing
- no lungs, just tubes piping air directly inside
- old timers
- flying 100 million years before dinosaurs existed
- strength
- some lift 50 times their own weight
- taste buds
- butterflies taste with their feet
monarch butterfly — migrates 3,000 miles annually across north america
honeybee — produces 1.5 million tons of honey globally per year
antarctic midge — only insect living permanently in antarctica, survives -40°c
japanese giant hornet — kills 30-50 people annually in japan with 2cm stinger