Bugs vs. Humans

Yikes! Spiders! Mites on my eyelashes? Some bugs are harmless, some are just gross and some are downright scary! Human follicle mites live on the skin of our eyelashes, eyebrows and nose. The insect population of Earth is estimated to be 10,000,000,000,000,000,000; insects outnumber humans 1,492,000,000 to one. Fleas are to blame for spreading many diseases, including the famous Black Plague. The lowly mosquito is responsible for no less than 1.5 million human deaths per year. In order to match the jump of a froghopper, a human would need to jump 216 meters high. Watch out when you kill a wasp or an army ant — the dying bug releases an attack pheromone that alerts its sisters, and a raiding party can number 500,000. When Human botfly larvae burrow under your skin, the remedy is to block the air hole with tape or petroleum jelly to asphyxiate the larvae. When ticks gorge themselves on human blood, they can increase 200 to 600 times their original weight — it’s like going for lunch and coming back weighing as much as an elephant! And so much more