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//HELLO//
...And welcome, I guess. I mean-- My name is Luo.
I am a canine from the outer regions of the Shukumeian deserts.
Uh, in any case, I'm... kind of a complicated guy. And I always need someone to vent my problems to... can I talk to you for a bit? Wha-- Yeah? Haha, wow, thanks. I appreciate that.
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//HOW DO YOU DO?//
BASIC FACTS
Name// Luo
Nickname// "Lu", "Luie
Age// Sixteen
Species// African Wild-dog-like canine
Gender// Male
Ancestor// Olluo
Ancestor's nickname// Luo
Tribe name// Bodhi
Tribe location// Outer Shukumeian desert/Savanna
Tribe specialties// Hunting, textiles, figs
Ref sheet! Drag to the address bar to view full size.
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// IDENTITY CRISIS//
//REAL//
Interests// Biology (especially entomology!)
Abilities// Quick thinking, high IQ, good liar
Likes// Insects, nature, figs, peace, quiet, solitude, the rainforest, crystals, girls, books, moonlight
Dislikes// Ancestors, authority figures, his double-identities, thirst, his brothers, fighting, being forced to do things
Friends// Chura, Dlesi
Alignment// Neutral Good
A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias toward or against order.
Neutral goods value both personal freedom and adherence to laws. They feel that too many laws may unnecessarily restrict the freedom of good beings. They also believe that too much freedom may not protect society as a whole and encourage counterproductive divisions and in-fighting.
These characters value life and freedom above all else, and despise those who would deprive others of them. Neutral good characters sometimes find themselves forced to work beyond the law, yet for the law, and the greater good of the people. They are not vicious or vindictive, but are people driven to right injustice. They will follow the law unless more good can come from breaking the law. They will never betray a family member, comrade, or friend.
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//FAKE//
Interests// War, art, hunting
Abilities// Physical strength, quick reflexes, good at strategics
Likes// Fighting, MEAT, providing for family, noise, feeling important, being social
Dislikes// Insects, books, solitude, quiet, veggies
Friends// Everyone... except his enemies
Alignment// True Neutral
A neutral character does what seems to be a good idea. He doesn't feel strongly one way or the other when it comes to good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. Most neutrality is a lack of conviction or bias rather than a commitment to neutrality. Such a character thinks of good as better than evil. After all, he would rather have good neighbors and rulers than evil ones. Still, he's not personally committed to upholding good in any abstract or universal way. Some neutral characters, on the other hand, commit themselves philosophically to neutrality. They see good, evil, law, and chaos as prejudices and dangerous extremes. They advocate the middle way of neutrality as the best, most balanced road in the long run.
They are concerned with their own well-being and that of the group or organization which aids them. They may behave in a good manner to those that they consider friends and allies, and will only act maliciously against those who have tried to injure them in some way. For the rest, they do not care. They do not wish ill on those they do not know, but they also do not care when they hear of evil befalling them-- Better for others to suffer the evil than the true neutral and his allies.
A true neutral character will keep his word if in his best interest. He may attack an unarmed foe if he feels it necessary, and is willing to kill in battle if for his own good.
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Neutral Good vs. True Neutral
Neutral good and true neutral characters both believe that any means should be used to achieve desirable outcomes, but they disagree on exactly what types of outcomes are desirable. The neutral good character uses a variety of means to promote and further the cause of goodness, but true neutral characters are not interested in a selfless pursuit of beneficial results for others. Where neutral good characters are altruistic, true neutral characters are interested in their own affairs. True neutral characters will behave altruistically when it comes to friends, relatives, and allies, but for the most part will return the kind of treatment they receive from others. Neutral good characters, on the other hand, will behave altruistically even when dealing with others who are not friends or relatives, and may even forgive enemies that have done them grievous harm in the past (provided their enemy has truly mended his ways). True neutral characters will not extend the olive branch in such situations and may take advantage of their enemy's weakness to protect themselves from further machinations. True neutral characters follow a morality of reciprocity; neutral good characters follow the Golden Rule.
//ANCESTOR//
My clan has a few practices that are unfortunate for me. There are the initiation ceremonies, the fasting days, and the trials... but none of these have anything against
our ancestor tradition.
My clan is a relatively old one, and consequently we have a lot of people who died in the past. We call them our ancestors. Whenever a child is born, the parents pick an ancestor to name that child after. Parents generally pick ancestors who have some sort of significance to them, or have desirable traits.
The ancestor serves as a sort of "guardian angel," if you will, to the child. Protecting them from harm, keeping the evil spirits away, yadda yadda yadda.
Sounds kinda nice, doesn't it?
Well, it isn't.
You see, once a child is named, he or she is expected to assume the attributes and overall
personality of their ancestor. For instance, if your ancestor was a warrior, you are expected to be a warrior, too. Most people love having an ancestor to model themselves after. Those who don't are often exiled, both socially and physically. Because actually developing your
ownpersonality is like heresy!
Unfortunately for me, I'm one of those people.
You see, my Ancestor is pretty much the polar opposite of who I am. I have a special interest in insects. My Ancestor hated them. I hate war-- and really just conflict in general. My ancestor was a warrior and a jock. He killed a lot of people. Once my initiation ceremony happens, I'll be eligible to be enlisted into-- and expected to fight as a leader on the front lines of-- wars and battles.
Knowing me, that's probably a death sentence.
In any case, you can see my dilemma. My Ancestor and I are polar opposites. So what do I have to do about it?
I lie. That's just what I do. And lucky for me, I'm really good at it, too. Have you ever used the phrase "my whole life is a lie!" before? Yeeeaaaah? Well, that's pretty much the story of my life. When I die, I might just have it written on my gravestone.
To the world, I am a warrior who enjoys painting war-masks, hates
insects, and has a particular fondness for meat. In public, I
do assume the traits and personality of my Ancestor. I manage to survive through the rigorous and mind-numbing training exercises and art classes and hunting lessons that the elders force me to take, and despite the fact that I'm getting better at all three of those tasks... I think being made to train for them makes me hate them even more.
The only thing that I can really relate to a
little is art. Because I love nature, and when I think about it... nature is like a giant piece of art, really. To gaze upon the wings of a beautiful, downy moth is so much more captivating than any "art" I could possibly generate. I really wish I was able to incorporate nature or insects into my art, but unless I depicted them devouring whole cities or gnawing on the heads of babies my cover would be blown. Or I'd be teased for being too 'girly' or something. Thus is my life, I suppose.
There are a select few individuals who actually know who I am. They are trustworthy people who are quite close to me, and the people who I talk to after each awful, trying day has passed. I can actually be myself around them instead of wearing that heavy, figurative mask. They tend to be people from outside of my clan, unless they sneak up on me and force me to spill the beans. And, for some reason, they tend to be girls. That's always... nice.
//LIES//
So how do I pull it off?
Well, that
is a very good question, isn't it?
Unfortunately for you, I'm not going to go into detail about my techniques. I will talk about lies, though!
First off: Why would you tell a lie?
Well, sometimes lies are easier for people to digest than the truth. Sometimes it's just more kind to lie than to tell the truth. Some people tell lies for financial or personal gain. Personally, I just tell lies so I don't have to live the rest of my life all alone! I think my intention and purpose for lying is a good one, but most everyone who lies feels that way, too.
To clear something up real quick, you don't always owe certain people the full truth. If someone is being nosy (like... asking you where you are going when it's none of their business), telling them something other than the truth is not always a lie. If you are being asked something by someone who is evil or is not a due authority (like your opposition in battle), you are not obligated to tell them the truth, and not telling them the truth would not be considered a lie.
Lying is actually a lot easier than you might think, once you get the hang of it. All it takes is a little bit of cunning, a good amount of planning, and some deception! The first step in lying, of course, is being sure that your purpose for lying is a necessity. Once you have accepted the fact that you need to lie, lying will come to you a lot easier. Remember that you are violating the trust of others, so you really should
not lie unless you have good cause to do so.
Lying can lead to a lot of issues. For one thing, it can be really stressful. After a full day of lying, I have to take a little hiatus in my rainforest and just stop worrying about my next move all the time. There is always the constant risk of being found out or getting into trouble, and it is not fun.
All that aside, though... one of the best things I've learned about lying is that
the best lies always have a grain of truth in them. Ironic, huh?
Who would I lie to? Only those who I am in danger of being exposed by. I would never lie to anyone who knew my secret, ever. Unless it was a white lie, in which case... well, you get the point. ♥
//HOME//
My home is located on the outer edges of one of the vast Shukumeian deserts.
I live in the Bodhi clan, which is named after the Bodhi fig trees under which we usually dig our burrows. The roots of these trees provide structural support for the walls and ceilings of our underground homes.
It takes 100 to 3,000 years for a bodhi tree like ours to fully grow, and since ours is at least that old we like to say that it's been around for almost as long as the mythical Yggdrasil that supposedly lies in the heart of Shukumei!
This is what the underground system of tunnels looks like! All those rooms jutting off of the tunnels are actually connected via the side, though, not through the floors. There's this thing we use called an "elevator shaft" where we can pull ourselves up and down with this crank to the floor we want!
Each floor has a different purpose. The very lowest floor is the coldest and therefore is used for storing food. There are some homes, as well as the Diplomat Room, the shaman's place, some places for eating, and a lot of shops.
Because we have to use candles to illuminate places a lot, we have a lot of vents and tunnels specifically designed to capture and channel the smoke above-ground.
Not everything is underground, though! We have places above-ground for partying and mingling, as well as for shopping. It's pretty cool.
There are patches of dense jungle throughout our region. We gather a lot of food from these jungles, which are simply
teeming with life! They're filled with animals, and plants, and insects-- from the tip of the canopy to the depths of the jungle floor.
Because we're located on the outer edges of the desert, the region is technically called a grassland. In addition to the occasional area of jungle, we also have savanna, which is filled with long grasses and open-canopied trees. Because the jungle is too dense for larger animals to survive, our savanna is filled with grazing animals, like gazelles and zebra. We often hunt and eat them for food, but we have competitors-- there are other predatory animals out there, like the lions, who have tribes nearby. We have truces with some of them, but most of them would rather compete with us than collaborate. They're very thick-headed.
One of the perks of living in my family is that I get my own little burrow, all to myself! And it even has a secret little room for me to store all the insects I collect. They're dead, of course, but each one is mounted on a little wooden plaque with its' scientific name next to it! I take care to keep them all preserved nicely, just like my books said to do.
Here's a map of my house, in case you're interested!
Just don't tell anyone about those secret hiding spots!
Shukumei
Although I live in a land called Shukumei, I really haven't been anywhere besides the desert. All the stuff I know about the rest of the lands comes from myths and ledgends-- which our Elders believe are true. Supposedly, Shukumei is a huge place, which would make sense considering the fact that I've never seen a land that doesn't have savannah, desert, or rainforest properties.
Supposedly, Shukumei has a tree in the center that is the land's life force. This tree is called
Yggrasil, and supposedly has ofshoots that help to protect the outer regions of the land. According to ledgend, our tree is one of those, and helps to keep evil at bay.
In addition, there are supposed to be a lot of other creatures out there besides the ones I've seen. According to my Elders, there are creatures that look a lot like us that are called "Volks", and creatures that are like giant lizards called "Dragons". I'm not sure how much of that stuff I believe, but some day I vow to travel away from the desert and find out for myself. I'm sure there's something out there that's different from us, but I'm most curious as to what extent all the legends and myths I've been fed throughout my childhood are true!
//RAINFOREST//
One of the questions I get asked a lot by strangers is
how does the rainforest stay so humid and wet if the savanna doesn't get much rain? Well, rainforests definitely are moist! Rainforests like mine tend to recieve about 80 inches annually (I know because I kept track one year!), but some recieve even more than that!
What a lot of people don't seem to know, though, is that rainforests like mine pretty much just generate their own rain! Some of the rain comes from the ocean, but most of it is just water that is already present in the soil and in little pools of water that form on the leaves of trees. The heat from the sun evaporates moisture out of the ground and out of plants' leaves, and when that moisture rises and eventually cools off it condensates and forms rain. One of my books explains that because of this, "the rainforest is responsible for most of the moisture it recieves"!
Something you should know about rainforests is that they are made up of several layers:
First off, the highest layer is called the
emergent layer. The trees in the emergent layer have to be able to withstand the drying, scorching rays of the sun because they tower over all the other trees.
Underneath the emergent layer is the
canopy. It contains the majority of the trees in the rainforest-- about 50 percent of plant species in the rainforest can be found in the canopy!-- as well as the largest amount of biodiversity. Sometimes I have to climb the trees in order to find some of the animals who live there, and it's a huge climb-- the trees here tend to be around 30 to 45 meters tall! According to my books, about a quarter of the world's insect species lives in the canopy, which is more than enough reason to make the climb!
Many of the trees in my rainforest tend to be covered in a lot of moss!
Below the canopy is the
understory layer, which contains a mix of shrubs, ferns, and seedlings from canopy trees. A small fraction of sunlight actually reaches the understory layer, so understory plant species are able to live and photosynthesize successfully on the small amounts of sunlight trickling through the canopy leaves. The understory also has a higher humidity level, and therefore a lot of mushrooms and other decomposers make their homes there.
Finally, the very bottom layer of the rainforest is the forest floor. In my rainforest, the understory layer usually is considered the forest floor, but according to my books some rainforests have a layer where only about 5% of the sunlight actually reaches the plants. Because of this, there tends not to be very much foilage in these areas.
Like I said before, the rainforest is absolutely brimming with life! There's pretty much every kind of animal that you can imagine-- amphibians, reptiles, fungi, birds, fish, mammals like me, and, my favorites, insects.
//ENTOMOLOGY//
My interest in entomology-- that is, the study of insects-- began when this travelling librarian came through town. This guy stops by periodically to sell us new books and stuff in return for goods and occasionally services. I was really little at the time, but I had always been interested in nature more than fighting... and I spotted this book that the man-- the travelling librarian, I mean-- was carrying. It had a big 'ol butterfly on the front of it, and peculiarly it looked a lot like me.
I later found out that this butterfly was called an "owl butterfly". My markings are strikingly similar to that of this butterfly. But, uh, that's not the point.
The point is, the man saw my interest in his book-- which he was almost done with anyway-- and just gave it to me. To this day I still don't know why, but I read through that book as if I were starving for words. It talked all about insects, and how they wear their skeletons on the outside, and all their amazing abilities. I had a voracious appetite for more knowledge about these things, and-- I'll admit it-- I became quite obsessed.
That might have something to do with the fact that I was pretty much forbidden to like insects, and that my family members aren't big on reading books, but I like to think it's because of that owl butterfly. I had this cool connection with those insects, and soon I was able to identify all of the insects that are native to our area.
Over time, I've expanded my knowledge of nature-- especially of insects-- secretly, by trading things I find that are somewhat valuable (which, occasionally, include insects) for new books. I have all these books stashed away in a secret little niche in my house that only I know about. I take them out from time to time to read again, but I have most of the information memorized.
I assure you, though, that my love of nature doesn't stop at insects! I have a passion for learning about all living things, including plants, and finding anything new fascinates me! There are so many species of birds, reptiles, plants, mammals, and even marsupials here, and it's like heaven when I'm away from my tribe!
Unfortunately, even though the information can be valuable at times, I'm unable to directly share my knowledge with most other people. It's quite a bummer, really. I wish I could... but my double-identities have rendered my knowledge useless to others.
But-- oh! Would
you like to learn a little about different types of insects? I would be happy to share a bit of what I know with you! That way it won't be totally useless! ♥
First off, I should define a few things for you!
Arthropods are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, jointed appendages, and a segmented body. The term "arthropod" is a blanket term that covers insects, crustaceans, and arachnids. I will focus on insects and arachinds, which both are mainly made of chitin.
Insects are arthropods with three pairs of legs (6 legs total) and a three part body with a head, thorax, and abdomen. They have compound eyes and two antennae.
Arachnids are arthropods with four pairs of legs (8 legs total).
Let's begin!
Lepidoptera:
Moths
Moths and butterflies are often confused with one another because, generally, they look pretty much the same! However, you can actually tell them apart pretty easily. Adult moths tend to have antenna that are more feathery, thickened, or threalike than those of butterflies. In addition, moths are generally nocturnal. At rest, their wings are normally horizontal or hugged around their abdomen. Many moths are attracted to artificial light, like the candles or torches that my tribe uses. They eat nectar from flowers.
Papilionoidea:
Butterflies
Butterflies can be distinguished from moths by their thin antennae that have "knobs" on their ends. Butterflies tend to be most active during the day, and, like moths, they also eat nectar from flowers. Butterflies have these coiled, sucking-mouthparts that they use to eat the nectar, and in the process of using them they end up pollinating the flowers they are feeding from! Butterflies have an interesting life cycle, in which they start out as an egg, hatch into a larva, go through a pupa stage, and then end up ad an adult butterfly!
Coleoptera:
Beetles
A personal favorite of mine! Beetles have so much diversity in appearance!
Beetles have horned or leathery forewings that almost always meet in a straight line down their back and cover their hindwings, which are membranous and usually longer than the forewings. The hindwings fold underneath the forewings when they're not being used.
Beetle antennae usually have 11 segments and vary in shape. The abdomen usually has about 5 segments that are visible. Beetles have mouthparts that are adapted for chewing, and a very hard exoskeleton.
Beetles can be found in almost all climates and habitats except for the sea or really cold places like Hyouden or the tips of the Yamanami. Some beetles are even able to dive underwater!
Because beetles live in such a wide variety of habitats, they eat a wide variety of things. Some are omnivores and aren't too picky about what they eat, but some are acutely specialized and only eat a certain specie of plant. Some are primatily carniverous an consume mostly other arthropods. And, as I'm sure you know, there are even some scarab beetles who mainly eat dung or dead animals. Gross, I know, but someone's got to do it! You see, these beetles play a vital role in the recycling of nutrients back to the soil!
Beetles display a lot of different characteristics! Fireflies are a type of beetle (not flies!) that, as I'm sure you already know, have light-producing organs. But did you know that they use an enzyme called "luciferase" along with magnesium ions, ATP energy, and oxygen in order to create that light? Firefly larvae are called glowworms because they glow in the dark, much like the glow in the firefly's abdomen... but softer. The light that adult fireflies create, however, is for the purpose of social interaction. Groups of fireflies often synchronize their light-blinking in order to interact with each other or to commuincate about food or altitude.
In addition, there is a type of firefly in the genus
Photuris that uses her light in order to lure males so that she can eat him. I have seen this kind of firefly referred to in books as the "femme fatale firefly"!
A scientist in a book I read once discovered that beetles originated about 299 million years ago. Isn't that amazing?
Diptera:
Flies
I'm not a huge fan of flies, but I do admire them for their ability to move quickly and for their complex eyes! Most flies have a pair of functional wings and a pair of modified, club-like wings.
Anisoptera:
Dragonflies
Dragonflies are beautiful creatures! One of the most interesting things about them is that the males and females of the same species are often colored differently from one another-- their eye color, face color, and the markings on and color of their wings, thorax, and abdomens can be different!
Dragonfly wings are held horizontally outstretched when at rest. Dragonflies are normally found near water because that's where they lay their eggs. Depending on the type of dragonfly, some lay their eggs in calm water and some are able to lay their eggs in raging rivers! Some day I hope to be able to find a river like that just so I can see some different kinds of dragonflies!
Mandodea:
Mantids
Mantids have large, elongated bodies that tend to be several inches long. Their heads are generally triangular-shaped, with large eyes and forelegs that are what's called "raptorial," which means they're adapted especially for catching prey. Mantids are predaceous, which means they eat other living creatures. Mantids tend to eat other arthropods, but sometimes eat amphibians, birds, or lizards-- and, occasionally, they can be cannibalistic!
Blattodea:
Cockroaches
Once again, I'm usually not the biggest fan of cockroaches. However, there are a few varieties-- especially what's called the "Madagascar Hissing Cockroach"-- that hold a special spot in my heart.
Cockroaches and termites are usually a dark brown color, and have flattened bodies and long antennae. They usually live in tropical climates, but can adapt to pretty much any environment that has enough food and warmth.
Hymenoptera:
Ants, Bees, Wasps, and Sawflies
These guys typically have 2 pairs of wings and antennae with ten or more segments that are longer than their head. Females have something called an "ovipostor" which, especially in bees and wasps, has evolved and been modified to become a stinger. They all have chewing mouthparts, and some have a tongue for drinking fluids. Some can be predatory, but they tend to eat nectar or pollen.
They are highly social, which is absoultely amazing. Bees are some of my favorite insects ever, you know. Why? They love to dance. Or, I should say, they dance with purpose! Bees communicate important things (such as the distance of patches of flowers with good nectar and pollen, water sources, or new housing locations from the current hive) through dance! It is often referred to as a "waggle dance". I read about it in a book once, and ever since then I've been really interested about it. There was this once incedent with some bees that I had when trying to witness a waggle dance... but, well, that's another story.
Phasmida:
Walkingsticks
Walkingsticks generally don't have wings, but they do have long, slender bodies and legs, which provides unusually wonderful natural camoflage because it causes them to look like a stick! They are herbivorous, and if you have a really good eye you can usually find them in trees or shrubs.
Walkingstick females in the genus
Phobaeticus hold the record as the world's longest insects!
In addition, some walkingstick nymphs sometimes mimic ants or scorpions as an act of defense. Also, most walkingstick species are primarily parthinogenic. Eggs created through parthinogenesis are exact clones of their mothers, and are always female. Much like their natural-looking exterior, walkingstick eggs resemble seeds in both size and in shape.
Walkingsticks are truly one of the best tricksters out there. One of my books says the following about the life cycle of walkingsticks:
Many species' eggs bear a fatty knoblike capitulum that caps the operculum. This structure attracts ants because of its resemblance to the elaiosome of some plant seeds that is a sought after food source for ant larvae, and usually contributes to ensuring seed dispersal by ants, a form of ant/plant mutualism called myrmecochory. The ants take the egg into their nest underground and can remove the capitulum to feed to their larvae without harming the phasmid embryo. There, the egg hatches and the young nymph, which initially resembles an ant (another instance of mimicry among phasmatodea), eventually emerges from the nest and climbs the nearest tree to safety in the foliage.
Isn't that amazing?
Dermaptera:
Earwigs
Yeah, I'm not a fan of their name, either. Like a lot of people, I always used to think earwigs would come and try to lay eggs in my ears in the middle of the night. Especially because, well, my ears are just so much larger than a lot of other peoples'! But, Contrary to popular opinion, earwigs don't eat brains; rather, they eat plants, other insects, and organic matter. You can tell an insect is an earwig by its slender, flattened body and bead-like antennae. They also have this pair of pincers on the rip of their abdomen that is unmistakeable. Some are wingless, but some have thick, leathery wings.
Formicidae:
Ants
Yeah, I know I already mentioned ants. But they're such interesting insects that I just had to mention them again! Ants are scavengers that have quite the sweet tooth. Adults have a small esophagus. Ants live in civilizations that range from the size of a small town to that of an entire city with millions of individuals, and, like I said before, they're highly social creatures. They even have different social classes. The largest ant colonies consist mainly of specialized, wingless females called "workers" and "soldiers". In addition, there are ants called "drones" who are fertile males, and usually a single, noticeably larger, fertile female ant called the Queen. The Queen is usually the mother of all of the ants in the colony, and, depending on the type of ant, mainly reproduces through parthinogenesis or cloning. Young queen ants have a pair of wings that, later on in her life, she will detach or have detached by her worker ants.
Ants have built their homes in almost every landmass on earth, or so I'm told. Supposedly the only places in Shukumei where you can't find ants are the icy tips of the Yamanami mountain range and in Hyouden.
In addition, ants have the amazing ability to solve complex problems. Ants communicate with each other using pheromones, chemical signals that are smelled by the ants' long antennae and used to leave trails to food sources in order to allow other ants to follow. Pheremones are also used to alert other ants to danger, or to confuse enemy ants in order to make them fight amongst themselves.
Ants are one of the only insect species that actually, actively teach and tudor each other. Also, ants are able to choose what job they have in their community. If an ant is not successful at his job, he has the ability to change jobs to something he is successful at.
Ants are cooperative with each other and use teamwork to achieve their goals, which is something I really wish my tribe was better at!
Isoptera:
Termites
Termites, as you might already know, eat dead plant material-- especially wood! What you might not know, though, is that termites aren't actually able to digest the cellulose in the wood all by themselves. I kid you not! Termites actually have a symbiotic relationship within their stomachs with protozoa called
Trichonympha, which help the termite to digest the chewed up bits of wood and, in turn, recieve enough nutrients to keep them alive and happy.
Like ants, termites are incredibly social and have different social classes. They have a Queen, but in addition to their queen they tend to have a King as well. The King and the Queen are excusively together for their entire life.
Termite nests are sometimes built in trees, but are primarily built into elaborate mounds that can reach heights up to 9 meters! Unlike ants, termites build the mounds out of clay, soil, fecal pellets, and saliva. Sometimes termites use pheremones to attract each other to places where the mound needs to be fixed.
Termites often also create something called a "shelter tube," which is essentially a long tube that covers their path so that they do not get attacked by ants or other predators, or hurt by bad weather, while they are out scavenging.
Termites need a high level of water in order to survive, so they have the ability to figure out where water is underground. Chances are if you find a large and still flourishing termite mound, you will find water if you dig near it.
Hemiptera:
True Bugs
Around 50,000 - 80,000 species of arthropods are what's called "true bugs". What does that mean? Well, a true bug must be a wingless or four-winged insect that has mouthparts adapted for piercing and sucking. The category of "True bugs" includes cicaidas, aphids, and hoppers. They all have something called "ocelli", which are essentially simple eyes.
Siphonaptera:
Fleas
Okay, so if there is one organism on this earth that I hate, it has to be the flea. But having knowledge about them can be helpful, right? Fleas have dark, laterally flattened bodies that are wingless and have hind legs that are adapted for jumping. They have nasty little mouthparts for piercing skin and sucking your blood, and they feed on the blood of mammals and some birds. There is a kind of flea called the Dog Flea that really spells trouble for people like me, and when people in my tribe get a dog flea it usually spells disaster for everyone in the tribe. The affected people are quarantined and there are a whole bunch of cleanup protocol to get rid of every last flea. When this happens, which is quite rarely, we usually end up living outside for awhile.
But back to fleas! The life cycle of a flea begins when a flea mother lays her eggs after feeding on blood. Anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks afterwards, the eggs hatch into little nasty flea larvae. The larvae don't drink blood, and are blind. They grow into little nasty flea pupae and, eventually, into little nasty adult fleas. Adult fleas can't survive or lay eggs without feeding on blood, but they can live for up to a whole year without feeding. If I didn't hate them so much I would say that's somewhat admirable!
In addition to the irritating and maddening itch that fleas so kindly give their hosts, they can also transmit a number of nasty diseases, such as tapeworm, stomach flu, anemia, and the bubonic plague. In fact, fleas are the primary spread-ers of the bubonic plague!
Orthoptera:
Grasshoppers, Crickets, and Katydids
These guys have long and powerful hind legs for jumping and leathery, hard forewings. And crickets have beautiful music! Only male crickets chirp, but the sound is created when the cricket runs the top of one wing, which is covered with small "teeth", with the "teeth" on the bottom of another wing. I know a lot of people think otherwise, but crickets do NOT rub their legs together to create their sound! There are four types of cricket songs: a calling song, a courting song, an agressive song, and a copulatory song, all for romantic reasons. ;)
Cricket chirping is varied based on temperature and species of cricket. Generally higher temperatures mean more chirping. Why? Because crickets, like all insects, are cold-blooded!
Crickets eat plant matter and decaying things, as well as fungi and living plants. When there are no other food sources available, crickets sometimes eat their own dead and exhibit predatorial behavior upon weakened, crippled crickets.
Acari:
Mites and Ticks
I'm not too fond of these guys, either. Just thinking about them makes me feel all icky. But, for the sake of science and perhaps to help you prevent being infected, I will power through for you and tell you a little about them.
These guys are tiny! Most species of mites are microscopic, so I've never really studied them before. Most feed on animals, but some feed on molds and plants. Some even feed on other insects! A lot of allergies-- such as hay fever, asthma, and excema-- can be attributed to mites. They are usually found in warm, humid locations, including... give me a minute to shiver... beds. Ughhhh.
Ticks are actually little tiny arachnids, and are responsible for a long list of diseases: Lyme disease, Q fever, Colorado tick fever, tularemia, tick-borne relapsing fever, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, tick-borne meningoencephalitis, and bovine anaplasmosis. As if that isn't enough to make you say "ick", they also feed on your blood by inserting its' little mandibles and a feeding tube into your skin. Ticks can also live for years without food, which, like I said, would be admirable if the food source wasn't so icky.
Because I'm always hanging out in the rainforest, I have to check myself for ticks a lot and take a
lot of baths.
Araneae:
Spiders
You didn't think I would exclude spiders just because they aren't really insects, did you? Naw, I love spiders! Spiders can be distinguished by their eight legs and the fact that their bodies are only two segments, the cephalothorax and the abdomen. Spiders do not have antennae, but they usually have about four pairs (or more!) of eyes. Some spiders catch their prey with webs, while some hunt their prey actively. Almost all species of spiders, with the exception of four species, are not harmful to people, so fear of spiders really is irrational!
Have you ever watched a spider spin its' web? It is an absolutely breathtaking show. Web-spinning spiders have spinnerettes that produce spider silk. Spiders can have up to six different types of silk glands in their prominent abdomens, and each type of silk has a different purpose. Spiders who create circulat webs are called "orb-weavers".
Most spiders detect their prey with vibrations, but some have really acute vision to detect their prey with. There is a single species of spider that is herbivorous, but other than that spiders tend to be carnivorous. Spiders liquidize their food by injecting it with strong digestive enzymes and then sucking the liquidized insides out. Why? Because spiders can only eat liquid food. They don't have true jaws, either, so they can't chew!
A small amout of spider species are social. Some spiders weave webs called "communal webs" that can house up to 50,000 spiders at once!
Spiders use what's called "Hydraulic pressure" to move their limbs-- that is, essentially, water pressure instead of direct use of muscles inside the legs. A spider with a punctured cephalothorax (which is is therefore unable to move its legs, and when spiders die their legs curl up because the fluids have evaporated.
By mass, the largest species of spider is the Goliath Birdeater, which can weigh over 6 ounces. By leg-span, the largest species of spider is the Giant Huntsman Spider, which has a 12 inch leg-span!
Scorpiones:
Scorpions
Scorpions are somewhat scary, but still really cool. They have two large "pedipalps" with pincers, and a 5-segmented tail with a stinger at the end. Some scorpions are poisonus.
Chilopoda and Dilopoda:
Centipedes and Millipedes
Centipedes and millipedes are often confused with one another. The largest difference is that centipedes have a single pair of legs for every body segment, while millipedes have a single pair of legs on the first three body segments and two pairs of legs on every other body segment. I know because I counted once!
Centipedes have large antennae and are very fast runners!
They are both found under rocks, rotting logs, and in leaf debris. They usually eat decaying plant material, but are occasionally carnivorous.
While not an insect, strictly speaking, Comedy nevertheless manages to bug me. ;)
//FAMILY//
I only really have a couple people who I call friends, and they're the only ones who really know me. Everyone else is okay, but they don't actually know
me, y'know?
And, well... my family is crazy. My mom is always trying to get me to be exactly like my ancestor-- eat your peas, dear, your ancestor loved peas!-- and it drives me absolutely up the wall. Not that the walls in here are very high, but... well, it was a figure of speech.
My dad is a kind of quiet guy who you don't want to get angry-- but he's nice, and if I'm not mistaken he seems to favor me over all the other kids. Sometimes I wonder if he knows how I feel about my ancestor and my double-identities. He's so knowledgeable on everything-- and even knows a little information about insects!-- and I've learned a lot from him. He's probably my favorite person in the tribe to be around because he isn't always pressing my ancestor's identity upon me, and I like that. Being around dad would be kinda peaceful if it weren't for the fact that I still have to pretend I'm someone I'm not.
My brothers and sisters all have a really easy time parroting their ancestors. For some of them, that's a good thing. For others? Not so much. Some of my older brothers are bullies. My mother says they're just "asserting their dominance, just like their ancestors," and that "I should take after their example." Ugh. It's sickening.
//FRIENDS//
I'm always looking for more people to call 'friends', but right now I only really have two. These guys-- or, I should say, girls-- both know my secret and they don't despise me for it. In fact, they're both pretty awesome in their own ways!
Chura is a girl I met awhile back under some weird circumstances. Occasionally we get
diplomats who come to our village to learn about our ways and, in the case of Chura's dad, to learn some magic from the shaman. Magic and sorcery makes me kinda nervous... but, in any case, Chura and I didn't exactly hit it off the first time we met, because I was in the village and I had to pretend I was my ancestor. Later on we ended up bumping into each other in my forest, and she managed to get me pretty upset and I ended up letting my little secret out of the bag. However, she was actually really cool about it. Chura is extremely intelligent! She has a prominent interest in plants and their uses, and she's really fun to talk to. She is quite rebellious and bold, and has a dislike towards her elders-- specifically her dad and some guy named Bevando-- as well, kinda like me. And, above all, Chura is not at all afraid to be herself. I really admire that!
Dlesi is really nice, too, but she's a lot softer and sweeter than Chura. I don't mean that in a bad way-- Chura is really nice in her own way!-- but Dlesi is so much more fragile, I think.
Apparently she was exiled because she was the smallest of the litter, which seems like a downright stupid reason to exile someone in my opinion. So Dlesi has been roaming the land of Shukumei and, like me, she feels a little lost and very lonely. She has a fondness for astronomy and loves stars and flowers. We had a chat about loneliness and about being exiled, and afterwards I must say I felt pretty lucky to have escaped exile thus far. She's one of the people who I enjoy seeing just because the way she looks at things is as if every little bit of nature is some sort of precious gem or something.
Needless to say, I really love both of them! They're quite different from one another, but variety is the spice of life, right?
//ART//
I've never been a huge fan of the art of my tribe, but whatever. My ancestor was. Pffffft.
I'm forced to take a "war-paint" class to learn about how to make people look intimidating, and painting actual pictures on stretched hide comes with that. The teacher of the class is some kind of weird fanatic ibogen-hyped weirdo who thinks that we have to perfect our artistic techniques in order to be successful in battle or in any aspect of life. And he smells bad. Um... moving on...
I kinda think that nature is a big 'ol work of art-- especially insects! Some people writhe at the sight of all those extra appendages and all that exoskeleton, but their designs are so perfect and flawless, and sometimes their wings are patterned and just absolutely beautiful! Every insect is like a living gem. My ancestor would disagree, but I don't care. That's what I think.
I have some art of my own, actually. It's much more appealing to the eye than some of the art I'm forced to make. Actually, they're really quite wonderful pictures-- and the fact that they depict me makes them even more lovely. Aw look, now I'm blushing. I really do love receiving these things, though! ♥ Want to take a look?
Oh! First, I do have this diagram I drew in class of me and what I look like. Here, maybe you can draw me using this? Or just look at it? Er-- I don't know.
Click on the ref to view it larger!Art by people!!! You can drag each picture to your address bar to see them in all their full glory!
...whatever that means.
I also have some of these things called
adoptables that I like to collect. They look like me-- isn't that cool? And I always absolutely love to recieve more! ♥
Adoptable Count: 3
//LEAVE BEFORE THEY FIND YOU//
What? Who will find you? Do you really want to know? Uh... well, all I'm saying is that you should probably leave. It's getting dark and I have some responsibilities to take care of. *sigh*
Thank you so much for letting me talk to you-- being able to get all that off my chest was quite nice.
And... sorry if I bored you at all!
OH, and you should take a link before you leave so other people can find their way here, or so you can find your way back. Here, have one! Or a few. There's plenty for everyone!
Feel like going somewhere else?
Here are some cool places you can travel to, or so I've heard.
 
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COURTESY OF ANNA!
//ATTRIBUTIONS//
Photo of a green beetle is from "Caro's Lines" on Flikr.
Photo of leaf cutter ants is from "Rofanator" on Flikr.
Photo of luna moth under "Entomology" is from "Twelve Tens Jim" on Flikr.
Photo of fly is from "mr. Alsultan" on Flikr.
Photo of beetle is from "Hippobosca" on Flikr.
Photo of butterfly is from "Wishymom (Stephanie Wallace Photography)" on Flikr.
Photo of butterflies on tree is from "Big Sugar Pig" on Flikr.
Photo of praying mantis is from "Gripper2111" on Flikr.
Photo of cockroach from "shaire productions" on Flikr.
Photo of wasp from "Gustavo Mazzarollo" on Flikr.
Photo of walkingstick from "S amo" on Flikr.
Photo of earwig from "striving67" on Flikr.
Photos of ants by "Antonello!" and "Lord V" on Flikr.
Photos of termites by "Stanislav S" and "Rundstedt B. Rovillos" on Flikr.
Photo of cicaida from "icanseerightthroughyou" on Flikr.
Photo of flea from "pestcontrolrx" dot com.
Photo of cricket from "Terapox" on Flikr.
Photo of tick from Wikimedia commons.
Photos of spiders from "Jong Soo(Peter) Lee" and "WesDigital" on Flikr.
Photo of scorpion from "lerlind" on Flikr.
Photo of centipede from "asnyder5" on Flikr.
All the other
photos are from Gettyimages.
All other
images are by Liz unless stated otherwise.
A big thank-you to Nees for helping me with the coding for this page! ♥ Thank you so much-- it was very, very helpful, and I couldn't have done it without you!
I found the basic html template for this pagehere-- but, I assure you, I edited it and tweaked it quite a bit, especially for Luo. :)
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