I have never seen a Phasmid, I didn’t even know that was what I was looking at the first time I encountered one of these little critters crossing my path the other day.
Since the photos I capture digitally are Live I made it move so Hubs didn’t think I was showing him a photo of a blade of grass.
“That’s a Daddy-Long Legs,” he said.
“No it’s not, it’s a walking blade of grass…look at it!” I pressed the photo to make it move.
“So it is,” he said.
Daughts and I saw a few more over the next couple of days while we walked and jogged,
“How does it not get run over on this road?” I mused out loud.
“It runs really fast,” said Daughts with a drum roll!
Then we saw one that appeared to be changing color,
“He’s an old one,” Daughts suggested facetiously.
I wonder? So I looked it up.
Well, of course I did, once a homeschooler, always a homeschooler!
They change color depending on their surroundings and have one of the most efficient natural camouflages on earth.
“Their average life expectancy in the wild is three years,” I told Daughts incredulously.
“How does something that looks like a running twig last that long?” Asked Daughts.
Well, they play dead to evade predators, they can shed a limb to get away, some have wings and fly off, while others emit a putrid smelling fluid that ruins their enemies’ appetite.
Oh, and they are nocturnal spending most of the day snoozing under a leaf out of harm’s way.
We must be walking just as they are getting up.
Isn’t nature amazing?
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