Achievement #70 - Our Six-Legged Friends

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Our Six-Legged Friends

There is barely an insect on this planet

That does not scare the pants off someone

Under examination even the most beautiful

Appear to be ugly monsters

That make dinosaurs look pretty

But how many do you harm

Not many, at first glance

Just five percent of the species

Of which there are one million

But hang on, isn't that misleading

Surely, that's around 2000 species

Just look at the ant population

It's between ten and one hundred trillion

Using those numbers, it's starting to look scary

Thankfully, the damage is, mostly, bites and stings

But beware the female mosquito, she's not just another fly

Especially if she takes a fancy to your body odour

At best, she is an irritating pest

At worst, she is the harbinger of death

she plays host, to life-threatening parasitic diseases

And the odd bug larva, she accidentally lays beneath your skin

She's definitely the most interesting

Simply because she needs our full attention


Footnote:

The more I read about these things, the less I like them, but the truth is, like all insects they play an important part in our ecosystem, providing huge biomass that supports species like fish, important to humanity's survival.

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