Biggest Ever Bug
By tony leather, 13th May 2012 | Follow this author
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Posted in WikinutNewsEnvironment
The biggest insect, in terms of weight, on earth the Giant Weta tips the scales at three times the weight of an average mouse, 70grams or more, but the one found in a tree by Mark has now been officially declared to be the largest ever found to date.
Biggest Ever Bug
53-year-old nature-lover and former park ranger Mark Moffett has reason to be pleased with himself. His remarkable find, on a remote New Zealand island after two full days of tracking, of a giant insect which he photographed eating a carrot out of his hand, was quite astounding.
The biggest insect, in terms of weight, on earth the Giant Weta tips the scales at three times the weight of an average mouse, 70grams or more, but the one found in a tree by Mark has now been officially declared to be the largest ever found to date.
Bug Two
This massive, cricket-like creature, wing span of seven inches, turned up on the New Zealand island of Little Barrier, just one of 70 other Weta varieties found throughout the country, the largest found on Little Barrier Island of course, and found to be in the main less social and more passive than other varieties
They feed on plants, other small insects and fruit, a typical example of
island gigantism, a biological phenomenon meaning they grow bigger than mainland contemporaries due to isolation and lack of predatory species, mainland populations wiped out by by rats accidentally introduced by Europeans.
Bug Three
Having found, fed and photographed this huge creature, Mark naturally returned her to where she had been found, firstly not wanting the Weta to be any more at risk than necessary, being such an endangered species. Being a nature lover, he was happy simoply to have got the encounter on record, but how many people would have been terrified of such a giant creepy-crawly?
Comments
14th May 2012 (#)
OK I knew I should not have clicked on this one.. GROSS ...
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