Water skaters belong to the insect family Gerridae. They sit on the surface tension of the water, skimming around and their legs have tiny little hairs which help keep them afloat. The ones in Korea are pretty big and I like to watch them. They wait for another insect to fall into the water, and when that happens, they scoot over and make a meal of the hapless victim.
I guess it's their bouyancy that keeps me interested. Down at Suwon, we always have a few in the rain water tanks. You know, if you happen to push one underneath the water for a while, all they do is bounce right back to the surface, huddled up into a little ball. Then when you leave them alone for a while, they slowly extend their legs and flip back to their normal positions. You can do this repeatedly and they bounce back every time.
Not that I would contemplate such mischief.
I guess it's their bouyancy that keeps me interested. Down at Suwon, we always have a few in the rain water tanks. You know, if you happen to push one underneath the water for a while, all they do is bounce right back to the surface, huddled up into a little ball. Then when you leave them alone for a while, they slowly extend their legs and flip back to their normal positions. You can do this repeatedly and they bounce back every time.Not that I would contemplate such mischief.
1 comment:
more frequent...shorter and funny...ben franklin's kind of writing...SO I LEARNED IN BIRDIE!!!!
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