1Hi, it's Doug.
2What's the most colorful insect you've ever seen?
3Well, a couple of years ago I visited the state of Florida
4and I was amazed to see these things.
5They're some of the most colorful grasshoppers I've ever seen.
6It's called a lubber
7and what was strangest of all:
8it was the middle of December when I saw them.
9Florida doesn't ever get very cold in wintertime
10so you can see lots of insects there all year.
11Someone named Kylie has a question about insects.
12Let's give her a call now.
13Hi Doug.
14Hi Kylie.
15I have a question for you.
16Where do bugs go in winter?
17That's a great question.
18If you live somewhere with cold, snowy winters
19you might have noticed this too.
20Just a few months earlier in the year, you could find all kinds of insects around you.
21Butterflies, ants, bees and lots more.
22But then winter comes and they're just gone
23and it's weird too.
24I mean it's not like there are no animals out in winter.
25For example you might still see deer or squirrels.
26Even a few birds like if you get a chance to watch a bird feeder.
27So, where do all the insects go?
28What do you think?
29I grew up somewhere cold and snowy and I used to wonder this myself.
30But before I tell you about where insects go in winter
31let me give you a clue involving a very different kind of animal.
32These, frogs.
33You see, I'm kind of obsessed with frogs
34and one of my favorite places to visit when I was younger
35was this pond that was near where I lived.
36I'd look for frogs there.
37I actually got to be pretty good at catching the frogs,
38showing them to my friends and family and then releasing them again into the pond.
39But every winter the pond would freeze over
40and the frogs would disappear.
41It wasn't just the frogs either.
42I started to notice there'd never be any turtles in winter
43and never any snakes too.
44It was kind of sad for me actually.
45I missed seeing all these creatures I would find in the summer.
46One winter while walking around the edge of the frozen pond,
47I was bored.
48I saw this rotten log sitting there, nothing too unusual.
49But since I was bored I decided to flip it over.
50As I flipped it over, I was totally shocked by what I saw.
51There, under the log, nestled into the freezing cold mud
52was this frog in the middle of winter.
53It was just laying there barely moving.
54Whoa, wait a second.
55The frogs were there the whole time?
56That's when I learned that frogs do something kind of like hibernation.
57They go into a long sleep in winter,
58burying themselves in the mud when it first starts to get cold in the fall.
59I'd heard of hibernation before but thought it was something that only bears did
60and it turns out it's not just frogs and bears,
61but turtles do this as well,
62and snakes.
63In fact, some snakes like these will actually all gather in a big pile
64like in a cave underground
65which helps them to stay warm.
66Oh yeah, I'd never thought about where the snakes went.
67So now, what about insects?
68Could it be that they hibernate during the winter too?
69I'll be honest with you.
70When I first heard this question, where do bugs go in winter?
71I thought you might be really disappointed by the answer
72because the first thing I thought of were insects like these,
73praying mantises.
74Praying mantises are one of many insects that, well... the answer is...
75they don't survive the winter, they die.
76While it's sad, it's part of their lifecycle.
77Every fall, praying mantises and lots of other insects too will lay eggs that do survive.
78So even though the adults don't survive the winter,
79by spring, babies will be born and their lifecycle will go on.
80But as I started to research more about this question,
81I was pleasantly surprised to find out that not all insects die in the winter.
82Now, I'd known that some insects like monarch butterflies
83will actually escape the cold by flying thousands of miles farther south
84to reach warmer places.
85They migrate just like many birds do.
86But what about hibernation?
87Are there any insects that can do something similar to what frogs, turtles and bears do?
88Where they stay alive all winter but just aren't very active.
89In fact there are, like these.
90Ladybugs are a good example
91and just like the snakes you saw earlier,
92ladybugs will often gather together in a big pile in a warm place.
93Sometimes they even try to stay warm by sneaking their way into people's houses.
94If you live somewhere cold in winter you might be able to notice ladybugs doing this too.
95So in summary, insects and other bugs have different ways of surviving cold snowy winters.
96Some of them fly south to warmer places.
97Others die but lay eggs
98and still, others are able to survive all winter.
99They do something similar to hibernation.
100That's all for this week's question.
101Thanks Kylie for asking it.