I’ve always had an appreciation for the little things in life. A nice sunset, a laugh with a friend, or the taste of a nice hot chocolate. But there’s one thing in life that I appreciate that many people do not, and that is arthropods, your pillbugs, millipedes, insects, arachnids or whatever little hard-shelled creatures you can think of, they’re more than likely an arthropod. Ever since I was a little girl in preschool I loved learning about bugs. Poking a millipede with a stick, picking up pillbugs to make them curl up, or just watching the beautiful metamorphosis of a butterfly.

One time, a few years ago, I don’t quite remember exactly how many, I was out camping with my family. Me, my mom, my stepdad, and my little brother. We had a pretty nice camping setup, a pretty nice camper, some mosquito repellent on, and a beautiful fire. But I was much more drawn to what was lurking around just outside of all that. Moths. There were so many tiny moths hopelessly serenaded by the light of our camper.

Lights disorient moths, they can’t tell which way is up when they aren’t relying on the moon, which always stays directly above them. All of these little creatures were lost and confused, and I was enamored by the way they seem obsessed with orbiting around the bulb. But one night, I saw something amazing. On a candle we’d set outside the camper, there was a beautiful, vibrantly colored moth sitting on the container for our candle. The pink and yellow wings of a rosy maple moth are beautiful in pictures, sure, but I had never seen one before, so my first experience with one being seeing one in my own eyes was something truly special.

Another story I think is worth being told would be that of the junk bug. Junk bugs are the larval stage of another beautiful insect called a green lacewing, but their appearance wouldn’t really suggest it. Like many other larval insects, junk bugs don’t really look too much like their parents, and the way they behave is even stranger.

My first time learning about them was when my grandma showed me a picture of something peculiar on her balcony. A small bundle of dust and insect cadaver (most likely ants) that she seemed to think was moving on its own. At the time, I was skeptical about this, it seemed really odd and likely like it could have just been the wind. But in reality, the truth was only stranger. 

Junk bugs get their nickname from their behavior of taking little scraps of whatever organic matter they can find and carrying it along their backs as a method of camouflage. This seems kind of silly to a human, but to the junk bug, it keeps them much safer and likely to survive. 

Another time much later, I was at a local park with my dad’s side of the family. I was simply resting by a tree, as I tend to get exhausted pretty easily, due to not being especially athletic. To my surprise, as I was looking at the intricate formations of lichen on the tree’s bark, I saw a little junk bug carrying some lichen on its back to camouflage itself with the tree.

Whether blending in with the tree specifically was intentional or not on the part of the little larva, I could never know, but their little jaws were capable of carrying it, and they put it on their back, which helps them blend in. They’re interesting little guys, and the contrast between their behavior and appearance between their early life and later in their lives is a little humorous, in my opinion.

Of course, I could recount many tales of similar things, bugs are everywhere, and they do so much everyday, we couldn’t be living without them. I’m not trying to convince you to think they aren’t gross, or to start keeping a tarantula as a pet, but some time, even if it’s a little thought, try to appreciate the bugs. 

They may be little, but they are one of the foundations that our planet’s entire ecosystem stands on, and I think that deserves at least a sliver of appreciation. From how they eat, to how they look, to how they grow, or even how they impact our own lives, I think everyone can appreciate bugs somehow, even if you think they’re kind of gross.