I’m looking at a large, prehistoric bug on my desk. It is called a “Weta”, and it is the coolest bug in the world. Only found in New Zealand, and he (for it is a he, this time) is very much alive.
They look dangerous, but aside from a nasty wee nip, they’re quite harmless. We tend to treat them like exotic animals rather than bugs in NZ: most people wouldn’t dream of stepping on one.
He can jump, much like a grass-hopper. Huge long antennae that he uses as feelers. Unchanged in over a million years.
> They don’t know what they don’t know. It’s not something new.
Scientists still know very little about the Weta. They really don’t even know what questions to ask.
As for me and my Weta mate, we’re going to do the FRee Republic thing for another half hour, then watch “The Guns of Navarone” together — assuming this Weta doesn’t get bored.
Wetas are cool. What kind do you have?
I think fireflies are pretty cool, too... Would be kinda neat to cross a Weta with a firefly and get a weta that lights up in the dark. Now that would be something out of an old B movie! :-)