Instead of painting with oils or watercolors, Fabian Peña uses fragments of cockroach wings and crushed houseflies as his artistic medium. The blurb about him at the David Castillo Gallery says: "Peña harkens to the Shakespearean interpretation of a corporeal 'pound of flesh,' acknowledging the somatic price for locating beauty in the grotesque." [via ihlet.com]
Posted By: Alex | Date: Sun Mar 10, 2013 | Comments (4)
Category: Art, Insects
In order to test the theory that noisy copulating animals are at greater risk of being found and eaten by predators, German researchers mounted "dead, noiseless fly pairs" on the ceiling of a shed. The bats that lived in the shed ignored them. But when the researchers played the sound of copulating flies through loudspeakers, the bats attacked the loudspeakers. So, theory proven!
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft has a video of the bats attacking the speakers, but unfortunately the video has no sound. And below is a youtube video of some copulating flies -- but again, you can't hear the flies, just some people in the background. So I still don't know what copulating flies sound like.
It's never occurred to me to wonder if I could cover my naked body with 30,000 bees. But it occurred to this Polish beekeeper. He survived the "experiment" with only two stings. The best part of the video is when he shakes them all off at the end.
Posted By: Alex | Date: Tue May 22, 2012 | Comments (5)
Category: Insects
Who would ever have figured that this practical joke would come back into fashion after 80 years? Be a big hit in your rich Manhattan co-op, as you sprinkle these liberally around!
Watch Travis Fessler set the record by stuffing 11 cockroaches in his mouth. According to an article on Cincinnati CityBeat, he says doing this hurts because the roaches have sharp barbs on their legs, and they try to crawl down his throat. So I'm crossing this off my bucket list.
Do they still celebrate St. Patrick's Day with special fervor in Puerto Rico, thanking the saint for freedom from worms and ants? A charming thing, if they do.
Category: Insects