Exploring Nature in the San Francisco Bay Area
Kids and Nature, Wildlife

Insecta-Palooza Takes the Creepy out of Lots of Crawlies

With Halloween right around the corner, it’s only natural to think of cobwebs and hairy creatures lurking in dark places. Just the thought of these creepy, crawling, eight-legged, web tangling, multi-eyed arachnids can frighten even the toughest individuals. Even yours truly. Luckily, the third installment of Sonoma State University’s Insecta-Palooza is here to remind us that these crawlers aren’t so creepy after all.

Spring Issue 2011

Ticked Off

Ticks can be trouble, yet you can’t help but admire their toughness as they cling to vegetation waiting for a meal to come within arm’s length. Fortunately for us, some of those meals come from western fence lizards, whose blood neutralizes the pathogen that causes Lyme disease. Now that’s a handy bit of natural selection!