Grateful for Exo/Endo Skeletons

“Count your blessings, count them one by one, and it will amaze you what the Lord has done.”

Encountering this alien on our deck this morning, the former Science teacher in me kicked in.

We humans make up just 0.01% of life on earth, whereas pesky insects comprise 75% of all animal species . . . it ‘bugs’ me that we’re so outnumbered😊

The Good news – In His omnipotent wisdom, God designed insects with external protective suits of armor called exoskeletons made of chitin to protect their internal organs and provide their body framework. Conversely, our Creator ‘coincidentally’ fitted us with endoskeletons made of bones to protect our internal organs and provide our body framework.

The Bad News – Annoying insects can easily penetrate our soft outer skin with their itchy bites and miserable burrowing ☹️

More Good News – insects’ exoskeletons limit their size. If insects had endoskeletons like us they wouldn’t have to molt in order to grow, and they’d rule planet earth! We’d be tripping over termites; shooting chiggers; using bats as fly swatters; and be praying behind barred doors when a praying mantis like this one appeared.

Native to Europe and parts of Asia and Africa, Mantis religiosa is a predatory invader accidentally introduced in New York over a century ago.  

Cannibalistic, the praying mantis eats its prey alive. Larger members of their clan have been known to hunt small lizards, birds and tiny mammals.

The larger females are totally unromantic. During or after mating, she’ll most likely eat her boyfriend to provide a convenient source of nutrients for her eggs, a somewhat maternal touch, but no E-harmony here 😊

Able to rotate their head 180 degrees, Mantis religiosa have one ear on their stomach which can detect ultrasound, enabling them to dodge bats . . . kinda’ weird for an insect that is Connecticut’s state insect.

Sooooo . . . I’m grateful for exoskeletons, and that I’ve been ‘…fearfully and wonderfully made…” (Psalm 139:14) with an endoskeleton, able to squish irritating insects.

Keep Looking Up ^ . . . His Best is Yet to Come!