Why do insects die out in the open?
The hot summer season is nearly here in Houston. And just as sure as the sun will be out and the humidity up the bugs will be out and up, too: flies, mosquitoes, ants, june bugs, roaches and more. And as "luck" would have it some make it in the house. A sight the other day sparked a burning question in my mind. Why is that when a bug dies it does so right out in the open? It is one thing for one to go crawling across the floor or flying across the room since there is some satisfaction in the perfect mid-air swat or that certain "crunch" under your shoe. But, one morning last week there was one of the big winged, fast crawling, bronze backed roaches lying up-side down, legs up, not moving. I like them not moving but, why do they have to die in the open right in the middle of the floor for all to see and scream? Is the floor kind of like the Sahara desert that no bug can survive the cruel elements crossing it? And what about the multitude of spaces in between the walls and in the crawl space for them to expire out of sight? Or, do they really have to have the air conditioned, soft carpeted floor of my family room for their final scene? Just yesterday I was outside looking at a flower bed and inside the window on the window sill was another dead, six legged creature. I would have gladly let it out but no, one more glance at the outside world and then, sayonara. Oh well, another unanswerable philosophical question.