Support Deep Look on Patreon!! https://www.patreon.com/deeplook Because it's hoarding protein. Not just for itself, but for the butterfly it will become and every egg that butterfly will lay. And it's about to lose its mouth... as it wriggles out of its skin during metamorphosis. DEEP LOOK is a ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Get a new perspective on our place in the universe and meet extraordinary new friends. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small. * NEW VIDEOS EVERY OTHER TUESDAY! * That caterpillar in your backyard is chewing through your best leaves for a good reason. “Caterpillars have to store up incredible reserves of proteins,” said Carol Boggs, an ecologist at the University of South Carolina. “Nectar doesn’t have much protein. Most of the protein that goes to making eggs has to come from larval feeding.” Caterpillars are the larval stage of a butterfly. Their complete transformation to pupa and then to butterfly is a strategy called holometaboly. Humans are in the minority among animals in that we don’t go through these very distinct, almost separate, lives. We start out as a smaller version of ourselves and grow bigger. But from an evolutionary point of view, the way butterflies transform make sense. “You have a larva that is an eating machine,” said Boggs. “It’s very well-suited to that. Then you’re turning it into a reproduction machine, the butterfly.” Once it becomes a butterfly it will lose its mouth, grow a straw in its place and go on a liquid diet of sugary nectar and rotten fruit juices. Its main job will be to mate and lay eggs. Those eggs started to develop while it was a pupa, using protein that the caterpillar stored by gorging on leaves. We think of leaves as carbohydrates, but the nitrogen they contain makes them more than one quarter protein, said Boggs. -- What are the stages of a butterfly? Insects such as butterflies undergo a complete transformation, referred to by scientists as holometaboly. A holometabolous insect has a morphology in the juvenile state which is different from that in the adult and which undergoes a period of reorganization between the two, said Boggs. The four life stages are egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa (also known as chrysalis) and butterfly. -- What if humans developed like butterflies? “We’d go into a quiescent period when we developed different kind of eating organs and sensory organs,” said Boggs. “It would be as if we went into a pupa and developed straws as mouths and developed more elaborate morphology for smelling and developed wings. It brings up science fiction images.” ---+ Read the entire article on KQED Science: https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2017/07/11/why-is-the-very-hungry-caterpillar-so-dang-hungry/ ---+ For more information: Monarch Watch: http://www.monarchwatch.org California Pipevine Swallowtail Project: https://www.facebook.com/CaliforniaPipevineSwallowtail/ A forum organized by Tim Wong, who cares for the butterflies in the California Academy of Sciences’ rainforest exhibit. Wong’s page has beautiful photos and videos of California pipevine swallowtail butterflies at every stage – caterpillar, pupa and butterfly – and tips to create native butterfly habitat. ---+ More Great Deep Look episodes: What Gives the Morpho Butterfly Its Magnificent Blue? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29Ts7CsJDpg This Vibrating Bumblebee Unlocks a Flower's Hidden Treasure https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZrTndD1H10 Roly Polies Came From the Sea to Conquer the Earth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj8pFX9SOXE In the Race for Life, Which Human Embryos Make It? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mv_kuwQvoc ---+ See some great videos and documentaries from the PBS Digital Studios! PBS Eons: When Did the First Flower Bloom? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13aUo5fEjNY CrashCourse: The History of Life on Earth - Crash Course Ecology #1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjE-Pkjp3u4 ---+ Follow KQED Science: KQED Science: http://www.kqed.org/science Tumblr: http://kqedscience.tumblr.com Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/kqedscience ---+ About KQED KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate in San Francisco, CA, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, Radio and web media. Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, which is also supported by HopeLab, the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, the Vadasz Family Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Smart Family Foundation and the members of KQED. #deeplook #caterpillars #butterflies

Support Deep Look on Patreon!! https://www.patreon.com/deeplook These pocket-sized predators are formidable hunters. But when it comes to hooking up, male mantises have good reason to fear commitment. SUBSCRIBE to Deep Look! http://goo.gl/8NwXqt DEEP LOOK is a ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Get a new perspective on our place in the universe. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small. * NEW VIDEOS EVERY OTHER TUESDAY! * Mike Maxwell recently finished a ninth season studying the love life of the praying mantises that live around Bishop, a town in California’s Eastern Sierra. Over that time, he’s seen some unsettlingly strange behaviors. It’s pretty common knowledge that female mantises sometimes eat males during or after mating — a habit that biologists call “sexual cannibalism.” But among the bordered mantises that Maxwell researches, it gets weirder than that. As it turns out, when a male mantis loses his head, it doesn’t mean he loses the urge to procreate. You read that right. Not only can some male bordered mantises continue mating even while being attacked by their female counterparts, some males are able to mount a female and initiate mating even after getting their heads completely bitten off. “It’s a really weird, strange behavior,” said Maxwell, “So what’s going on? Why do they do it?” -- What do praying mantises eat? Praying mantises are mostly ambush predators that typically eat small animals like grasshoppers, crickets, bees, crickets and butterflies . They use camouflage to hide themselves and wait for their prey to come within striking distance. Then they use their raptorial forelimbs to grab their prey. Spikes on their forelimbs help them hold their prey while they eat. -- Why do praying mantises eat each other? Female praying mantises sometimes eat males that approach them to mate. They are only able to do this because mantises are predators and the female mantises are bigger and stronger than the males. -- Do praying mantises bite? Most mantises will not bite people but they will pinch people with their forelimbs to defend themselves. It feels a lot like getting bit, trust me. ---+ Read the entire article on KQED Science: https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2017/11/14/praying-mantis-love-is-waaay-weirder-than-you-think-deep-look/ ---+ For more information: Dr. Michael Maxwell, National University https://www.nu.edu/OurPrograms/CollegeOfLettersAndSciences/MathematicsAndNaturalSciences/Faculty/MichelRMaxwell.html ---+ More Great Deep Look episodes: It’s a Goopy Mess When Pines and Beetles Duke it Out | Deep Look https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR5O48zsbnc These Whispering, Walking Bats Are Onto Something | Deep Look https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2py029bwhA&t=3s There's Something Very Fishy About These Trees ... | Deep Look https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZWiWh5acbE&t=1s ---+ See some great videos and documentaries from PBS Digital Studios! How Your Rubber Ducky Explains Colonialism | Origin of Everything https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWjzOcIIxgM When Whales Walked | PBS Eons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OSRKtT_9vw The Cheerios Effect | It’s OK To Be Smart https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbKAwk-OG_w ---+ Follow KQED Science KQED Science: http://www.kqed.org/science Tumblr: http://kqedscience.tumblr.com Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/kqedscience ---+ About KQED KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate in San Francisco, CA, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, Radio and web media. Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, which is also supported by HopeLab, the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, the Vadasz Family Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Smart Family Foundation and the members of KQED. #deeplook #prayingmantis #mantises

Sure, the female black widow has a terrible reputation. But who’s the real victim here? Her male counterpart is a total jerk — and might just be getting what he deserves. Learn more about CuriosityStream at http://curiositystream.com/deeplook SUBSCRIBE to Deep Look! http://goo.gl/8NwXqt DEEP LOOK: a new ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Get a new perspective on our place in the universe and meet extraordinary new friends. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small. We’ve all heard the stories. She mates and then kills. Her venom is 15 times stronger than a rattlesnake’s. One bite could kill you. With a shiny black color and a glaring red hourglass stomach, she has long inspired fear and awe. But most species of widow spider (there are 31), including the western black widow found in the U.S., don’t kill their mates at all. Only two widow spider species always eat their mate, the Australian redback and the brown widow, an invasive species in California. And the male seems to be asking for it. In both of these species, he offers himself to her, somersaulting into her mouth after copulation. He may even deserve it. During peak mating season, thousands of males will prowl around looking for females. Females set up their webs, stay put and wait. Once the male arrives at her silken abode, he starts to wreck it, systematically disassembling her web one strand at a time. In a process scientists call web reduction, he bunches it into a little ball and wraps it up with his own silk. Then, while mating, he will wrap her in fine strands that researchers refer to as the bridal veil. He drapes his silk over her legs, where her smell receptors are most concentrated. After all of that, he is most likely to crawl away, alive and unscathed. --- Why does the black widow spider eat her mate? No one really knows, but scientists assume his body supplies her with nutrition for laying eggs. Sometimes she eats him by accident, not recognizing him as a mate. --- How harmful are black widows to people? We couldn’t find a documented case of a human death from a black widow spider in the U.S., but a bite will make you sick with extreme flu-like symptoms. Luckily, black widows aren’t aggressive to people. --- Why do black widows have a red hourglass? It’s a warning sign, a phenomenon common in nature that scientists call aposematicism, which is the use of color to ward off enemies. ---+ Read the entire article on KQED Science: https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2018/01/09/why-the-male-black-widow-spider-is-a-real-home-wrecker/ ---+ For more information: Black widow researcher Catherine Scott’s website: http://spiderbytes.org/ ---+ More Great Deep Look episodes: Why Is The Very Hungry Caterpillar So Dang Hungry? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el_lPd2oFV4 Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Snail Sex https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOcLaI44TXA ---+ See some great videos and documentaries from the PBS Digital Studios! Origin of Everything: Why Does Santa Wear Red? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fajNM5OPVnA PBS Eons: 'Living Fossils' Aren't Really a Thing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPvZj2KcjAY ---+ Follow KQED Science: KQED Science: http://www.kqed.org/science Tumblr: http://kqedscience.tumblr.com Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/kqedscience ---+ About KQED KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate based in San Francisco, serves the people of Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial media. Home to one of the most listened-to public radio station in the nation, one of the highest-rated public television services and an award-winning education program, KQED is also a leader and innovator in interactive media and technology, taking people of all ages on journeys of exploration — exposing them to new people, places and ideas. Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, which is supported by HopeLab, The David B. Gold Foundation; S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation; The Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation; The Vadasz Family Foundation; Smart Family Foundation and the members of KQED. #deeplook #blackwidow #spiders

Support Deep Look on Patreon!! https://www.patreon.com/deeplook 🎇 2017 WEBBY PEOPLE'S VOICE WINNER 🎇 for Best Science & Education Video 📹 ! http://webbyawards.com/winners/2017/film-video/general-film/science-education/ Seen up close, the anatomy of a mosquito bite is terrifying. The most dangerous animal in the world uses six needle-like mouthparts to saw into our skin, tap a blood vessel and sometimes leave a dangerous parting gift. SUBSCRIBE to Deep Look! http://goo.gl/8NwXqt DEEP LOOK is a ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small. Scientists have discovered that the mosquito’s mouth, called a proboscis isn’t just one tiny spear. It’s a sophisticated system of thin needles, each of which pierces the skin, finds blood vessels and makes it easy for mosquitoes to suck blood out of them. Male mosquitoes don’t bite us, but when a female mosquito pierces the skin, a flexible lip-like sheath called the labium scrolls up and stays outside as she pushes in six needle-like parts that scientists refer to as stylets. Two of these needles, called maxillae, have tiny teeth. The mosquito uses them to saw through the skin. They’re so sharp you can barely feel the mosquito biting you. “They’re like drill bits,” said University of California, Davis, biochemist Walter Leal. Another set of needles, the mandibles, hold tissues apart while the mosquito works. Then the sharp-tipped labrum needle probes under the skin, piercing a vessel and sucking blood from it. The sixth needle – called the hypopharynx – drools saliva into us, and delivers chemicals that keep our blood flowing. Mosquito saliva also makes our blood vessels dilate, blocks our immune response and lubricates the proboscis. It causes us to develop itchy welts, and serves as a conduit for dangerous viruses and parasites. ---+ Read the entire article on KQED Science: http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2016/06/07/how-mosquitoes-use-six-needles-to-suck-your-blood ---+ What is the deadliest animal in the world? Mosquitoes are the deadliest animals in the world to us humans. The diseases they transmit kill hundreds of thousands of people each year. ---+ How many people get malaria each year? In 2015, malaria, the deadliest mosquito-borne disease, killed roughly 635,000 people, mostly children under the age of five and pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa. ---+ What diseases do mosquitoes transmit? Malaria, dengue, yellow fever, West Nile and Zika are some of the diseases that mosquitoes transmit. Dengue fever, transmitted Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, is estimated to make almost 400 million people sick with jabbing joint pain each year. Scientists also believe that Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are the main culprit for more than 350 confirmed cases of congenital malformations associated with the Zika virus in the northeastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco. Since last October, an unusually high number of babies have been born there with small heads and a host of health problems like convulsions, suspected of being caused by a Zika virus infection early in their mother’s pregnancy. ---+ What diseases can I get from mosquitoes in the United States? West Nile virus is the most important of several mosquito-transmitted viruses now native to the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control. ---+ More Great Deep Look episodes: The Bombardier Beetle And Its Crazy Chemical Cannon https://youtu.be/BWwgLS5tK80 --- See also this new Zika video from PBS Digital Studios: Should You Be Worried About Zika? | It's Okay to Be Smart https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ9S_3RFBgc ---+ About KQED KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate in San Francisco, CA, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, Radio and web media. Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, which is also supported by HopeLab, the David B. Gold Foundation, the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, the Vadasz Family Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Smart Family Foundation and the members of KQED. -- Video of mosquito labrum probing under mouse skin from: Choumet V, Attout T, Chartier L, Khun H, Sautereau J, et al. (2012) Visualizing Non Infectious and Infectious Anopheles gambiae Blood Feedings in Naïve and Saliva-Immunized Mice. PLoS ONE 7(12): e50464. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0050464 . Used under the terms of: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Animations based on drawing in Choo Y-M, Buss GK, Tan K and Leal WS (2015) Multitasking roles of mosquito labrum in oviposition and blood feeding. Front. Physiol. 6:306. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2015.00306 Used under the terms of: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ #deeplook #mosquito #mosquitobite

Dragonflies might rule the skies, but their babies grow up underwater in a larva-eat-larva world. Luckily for them, they have a killer lip that snatches prey, Alien-style, at lightning speed. SUBSCRIBE to Deep Look! http://goo.gl/8NwXqt DEEP LOOK: a new ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Get a new perspective on our place in the universe and meet extraordinary new friends. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small. * NEW VIDEOS EVERY OTHER TUESDAY! * If adult dragonflies are known to be precise hunters, capable of turning on a dime and using their almost-360-degree vision to nab mosquitoes and flies in midair, their dragon-looking babies are even more fearsome. Dragonflies and damselflies lay their eggs in water. After they hatch, their larvae, also known as nymphs, spend months or years underwater growing wings on their backs. Without those versatile four wings that adults use to chase down prey, nymphs rely on a mouthpart they shoot out. It’s like a long, hinged arm that they keep folded under their head and it’s eerily similar to the snapping tongue-like protuberance the alien shoots out at Ripley in the sci-fi movie Aliens. A nymph’s eyesight is almost as precise as an adult dragonfly’s and when they spot something they want to eat, they extrude this mouthpart, called a labium, to engulf, grab, or impale their next meal and draw it back to their mouth. Only dragonfly and damselfly nymphs have this special mouthpart. “It’s like a built-in spear gun,” said Kathy Biggs, the author of guides to the dragonflies of California and the greater Southwest. With their labium, nymphs can catch mosquito larvae, worms and even small fish and tadpoles. “It’s obviously an adaptation to be a predator underwater, where it’s not easy to trap things,” said Dennis Paulson, a dragonfly biologist retired from the University of Puget Sound. Also known among biologists as a “killer lip,” the labium comes in two versions. There’s the spork-shaped labium that scoops up prey, and a flat one with a pair of pincers on the end that can grab or impale aquatic insects. -- How many years have dragonflies been around? Dragonflies have been around for 320 million years, said Ed Jarzembowski, who studies fossil dragonflies at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology. That means they were here before the dinosaurs. -- How big did dragonflies used to be? Prehistoric dragonflies had a wingspan of 0.7 meters (almost 28 inches). That’s the wingspan of a small hawk today. ---+ Read the entire article on KQED Science: https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2017/09/12/a-baby-dragonflys-mouth-will-give-you-nightmares/ ---+ For more information: This web site, run by Kathy and David Biggs, has photos and descriptions of California dragonflies and damselflies and information on building a pond to attract the insects to your backyard: http://bigsnest.members.sonic.net/Pond/dragons/ The book "A Dazzle of Dragonflies," by Forrest Mitchell and James Lasswell, has good information on dragonfly nymphs. ---+ More great Deep Look episodes: Why Is The Very Hungry Caterpillar So Dang Hungry? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el_lPd2oFV4 This Mushroom Starts Killing You Before You Even Realize It https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl9aCH2QaQY&t=57s Daddy Longlegs Risk Life ... and Especially Limb ... to Survive https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjDmH8zhp6o This Is Why Water Striders Make Terrible Lifeguards https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2unnSK7WTE ---+ See some great videos and documentaries from PBS Digital Studios! PBS Eons: The Biggest Thing That Ever Flew https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scAp-fncp64 PBS Infinite Series: A Breakthrough in Higher Dimensional Spheres https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciM6wigZK0w ---+ Follow KQED Science: KQED Science: http://www.kqed.org/science Tumblr: http://kqedscience.tumblr.com Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/kqedscience ---+ About KQED KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate based in San Francisco, serves the people of Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial media. Home to one of the most listened-to public radio stations in the nation, one of the highest-rated public television services and an award-winning education program, KQED is also a leader and innovator in interactive media and technology, taking people of all ages on journeys of exploration – exposing them to new people, places and ideas. Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, which is supported by HopeLab, The David B. Gold Foundation; S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation; The Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation; The Vadasz Family Foundation; Smart Family Foundation and the members of KQED. #deeplook #dragonflies #dragonflynymph