Animal Guides / Insects and small wonders
Insects and small wonders
Bees, butterflies, ants, dragonflies and tardigrades, the tiny animals that keep the world running.
Invertebrates make up the vast majority of animal species. They pollinate crops, recycle waste, feed birds and fish, and pull off feats of engineering and endurance that larger animals cannot match.
Small wonderDragonfliesAncient aerial hunters with nearly all-around vision and some of the highest catch rates of any predator. Most of their life is spent underwater.
Small wonderHoney beeA colony of tens of thousands of bees works like a single super-organism, dancing directions to flowers and turning nectar into honey.
Small wonderLeafcutter antsThese ants do not eat the leaves they carry. They are farmers that grow a fungus garden underground, in colonies that can number in the millions.
Small wonderMonarch butterflyThe orange-and-black butterfly that flies thousands of kilometers to winter forests in Mexico, guided by the sun, and depends on milkweed to survive.
Small wonderTardigrades (water bears)Microscopic eight-legged animals that can survive drying out, freezing, radiation and even open space by shutting down into a "tun" state.