A bug's life

Rhino Beetle up close and personal.

Here's another one of those "I couldn't have planned it if I tried" experience. While returning back to the subway from Amsadong, I noticed a 'store' in a qwansut (sp?) hut that had 'pitcher plants' and venus fly traps for sale. Having recently considered attempting to carve a 'pitcher plant' stamp for a letterbox exchange project with an Adirondack theme, seeing one in person intrigued me.

So, we ventured into the store--once inside I closely studied the bizarre pitcher plants and then I realized it was a pet 'bug' store which specialized in rhino beetles and such. Well, it just happens that we're studying insects in rnrB's science class at the moment and have recently finished segments on worms, beetles, caterpillars and butterflies. Lo and behold, this store had ALL of these--in technicolor living fashion!!! The rhino beetles were GIGANTIC. I hadn't seen one of those since one hopped in my suitcase while on a trip to Tunisia back in 1984 and after it 'sprouted' to life in our home in Berlin weeks later BUT we found it after it died. We had no clue what one was--and there it was large, grotesque and beautiful all at once.

Well, here we were witnessing these fascinating bugs alive & well in our midst. What perfect timing--the kids were able to recite the body parts--head with antennae, thorax with 6 legs and 2 pairs of wings, and an abdomen. The store even had examples of eggs, pupae/larvae, chrysalis and the adult specimens of various bugs. This experience totally reinforced all of our science lessons that seem to grow stale after a bit when you just read them 'rote' from the textbook.