The Walking Stick

No, a walking stick really isn’t a stick that can walk. It’s not a cane to help you walk, either.

Here are some interesting facts about walking sticks:

There are approximately 3000 varieties of walking insects in the world.
Walking Stick insects are vegetarians.
The walking stick’s stem shape and tan or brown colors make them practically invisible as they hang around in the leaves and parts of their food plants.
Walking sticks live mainly in the tropical areas of the world.
These insects mainly spend their days motionless as they hang from plants and shrub or tree branches patiently waiting until dark comes so they can eat.
Stick insects can reproduce without the need for mating – some walking sticks are all mature females and their children, which are exact duplicates of each other!
The walking stick has the strange ability of growing back a leg if it loses one. This is called partial regeneration. Would you like to do that?
Walking sticks look like a piece of skinny wood, but it’s not! It’s a bug! Walking sticks resemble sticks for a very good reason, that’s how they hide. In fact, their disguise works so well, these creatures have been around for more than 4 million years. Something must be working right for them!

Not all bugs have remained the same for so long. As time passes, many bugs have mutated in order to adapt to their new surroundings. People adapt over time too! Take your messy room for example. You have probably adapted to it, and are no longer even noticing it.

Mutate means to change form. Over time, many insect species have mutated into new kinds of bugs. To adapt to an ever-changing planet, certain bugs have learned to eat everything from fabrics to pepper. Many have slowly adapted to temperatures ranging from freezing to burning hot, 120 degrees Fahrenheit, to be exact.

Living Life on the Edge

A walking stick spends most of its day in a balancing act of survival. Imagine avoiding hungry birds, pretending you’re a stick anytime someone comes around, and hanging on for dear life when a storm comes. It sort of makes you appreciate how much easier it is to be a person. Every living thing has its struggles.

Stilt Bugs

Tired of seeing the world from just your view point? Try seeing it from about 2 feet higher. There are actually two kinds of stilt bugs: the regular stilt bug and the stilt-legged flies. Both insects tend to walk over other bugs, which could be especially bad if you are a squash bug.