In this post, you’ll read about 9 amazing and real superpowers of insects that you might not have known about. Plus, scroll to the bottom for a classroom writing prompt inspired by insects’ incredible abilities.
A note for educators: If you’re an educator planning to teach insects, great learning resources are key to deepening understanding! I think you and your students will love my complete Insects Unit (plus you’ll support my blog with your purchase! ❤️)
Insects may be small, but they make up for it with incredible superpowers. Just look at what these cool critters can do—you’ll see that insects are like tiny superheroes living all around us!
1. Super Strength
An ant can carry 50x its own weight. A dung beetle can drag over 1,000x its own weight!
2. Super Vision
Some insects can see types of light that humans cannot see. These include ultraviolet and infrared light, which are invisible to our eyes. Butterflies and bees can see ultraviolet light, while mosquitoes can see infrared light.
3. Super Tasters
Houseflies and butterflies can taste with the bottoms of their feet. Housefly feet are even more sensitive to sugar than the taste buds on your tongue!
4. Super Builders
Some types of termites build giant homes called mounds that can be twice as tall as an adult man. They are built to last too – some termite mounds are about 4,000 years old and are still in use. That’s nearly as old as the Great Pyramids of Egypt!
5. Super Jumpers
A grasshopper can jump up to 20x its own body length!
6. Super Fliers
Every year, monarch butterflies fly up to 3,000 miles from their summer homes in the United States to their winter homes in Mexico. This long, yearly trip is called a migration.
7. Super Pollinators
Bees help pollinate 80% of the flowering plants on Earth! About one third of all our food comes from plants pollinated by bees – including almonds, squash, and apples!
8. Space Explorers
Fruit flies were the first animals to be sent into space!
9. Time Travelers
Dragonflies have been on Earth for about 300 million years. In contrast, humans have only been around for about 300 thousand years. That means dragonflies have been around 1,000x longer than humans!
Classroom Writing Activity
After you read about the superpowers of insects, try your hand at some insect-inspired creative writing:
Writing Prompt: Write a story about a superhero insect. What insect-inspired superpower does your hero have? How do they use it? Who or what do they help?
Find this activity and more in my complete Insects Unit
There’s no need to scramble to put together the perfect insects lesson – I’ve already created it for you! This set includes all the printable materials you need for studying insects.
Explore more lessons from Wild Earth Lab:
If you enjoyed this post, I know you will love trying my other printable science and nature units in your classroom too!
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