Mod The Sims - What's the fuction of musquitos (And other annoying insects)?

iCad

25th May 2012, 01:34 AM

Most insects are a food source for other creatures. The whole "circle of life" thing, you know. (Don't worry, I'm not going to sing the song.) Bats, for instance, eat a TON of mosquitoes. So if you don't like mosquitoes, build some bat boxes. And while you're at it, don't kill spiders, which also feed on mosquitoes. Also, mosquito larvae are a bountiful food source for aquatic critters like fish and frogs.

Flies serve a very useful purpose. That is, their larvae do, eating dead creatures, which facilitates the decomposition of whatever they don't eat, which returns nutrients back to the Earth to be reused. The circle of life ain't all pretty, y'know, but it's all necessary, and flies are a HUGE part of the not-pretty end. Also, in their adult form, they are a valuable food source for other creatures.

Bees and wasps, depending on the kind of bee/wasp in question, serve a number of functions from plant pollination to pest control. If you're afraid of spiders, you should love certain solitary wasps, which prey on large spiders. In most cases, if you don't bother them, don't antagonize their hives, and don't freak out when one approaches you, they will not bother you and will fly off and go about their business because they have zero interest in you otherwise. At least, they won't intentionally bother you. I once drank from an open can of soda into which, unbeknownst to me, a yellowjacket had climbed, after the sugar. Got a nasty sting in my mouth. But that wasn't the yellowjacket's fault; it was my fault not covering my drink.

As for fleas and lice...Well, you've got me there. I know of nothing that preys on them and can think of no useful function for their purpose. At least, not useful-to-me or useful-to-nature. Obviously, the evolved to fill a niche that nothing else was filling. Nature is opportunistic that way.

I always find it amusing how people (not you, OP, just people in general) advocate getting back to nature and being natural all that...and then they complain about bugs that bite them. Can't have one without the other, I'm afraid. :) And just because something bothers you, that doesn't mean that they're purposeless. You just have to look at the larger picture, is all.

BlakeS5678

25th May 2012, 02:47 AM

In that case... I'm totally getting a bunch of bats, never killing any spiders again, and at LEAST 5 frogs and other fish. That should keep 'dem mosquitoes out of my home!!

You just have to look at the larger picture, is all.

Too bad that makes so many people's eyes' hurt.

Mistermook

25th May 2012, 03:59 AM

Except bats carry all sorts of communicable diseases like rabies. They're essentially flying rats.

VerDeTerre

25th May 2012, 04:17 AM

It's just as valid to ask, what's the value of humans? To mosquitoes, humans are fast food. It's all in your perspective.

vhanster

25th May 2012, 07:22 AM

It's just as valid to ask, what's the value of humans? To mosquitoes, humans are fast food. It's all in your perspective.

True. If insects and animals can think like humans, they'd probably wonder why we exist too.

JDacapo

25th May 2012, 07:40 AM

I wish that DDT wasn't completely banned, but just used in moderation. It would have saved the lives of so many people in places like India. Also, there are plenty of other non-annoying bugs. For me, the mosquito's only functions are to bite, annoy and spread disease. Maybe I sound like a typical conservative or libertarian, but for pete's sake, I hate it how these insects are always finding a way to bite us even when we take the precautions!

Shoosh Malooka

25th May 2012, 07:44 AM

They all have functions, subjective functions.

Mosquitoes are here to remind us that camping sucks and that nature is dirty.
Wasps and hornets thrive to provide us glorious entertainment and mirth (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDSf3Kshq1M).
Flies point out which of us are filthy, like nature. Also, the maggots indicate which restaurants not to eat from. I always enjoy seeing a maggot or two crawling around the box of el pollo loco.
And lice are here to remind us to get haircuts. And so that we will be wary of touching animals that come from filthy nature.

Johnny_Bravo

25th May 2012, 06:43 PM

And just because something bothers you, that doesn't mean that they're purposeless. You just have to look at the larger picture, is all.

It wasn't just because they bother me, it wasjust because they bother lots of people and I've been wondering what their good functions are.
Like school. It's bothering me, but I know it's not purposeless ;)

...hornets...
Hornets are fine to me, even though they're bigger and when they sting you it's much more painful. They don't sting very fast and they eat wasps :)

Drakesecaravdis

25th May 2012, 07:17 PM

I don't know I hate bugs (except for butterflies and caterpillars sorta) I remember when I was little I used to love to play with rollie pollies and worms. now I can't see why I ever liked them.
as to mosquitos, wasps and flies, they don't really bother me that much considering I hate bugs. flies just buzz around that's all and to me I think it's sometimes interesting to have a fly in our apt because my Pom, Rocky goes nuts trying to get it (although when he barks about it, it's so annoying but he barks at a lot of things so it really wouldn't make a difference) so I'd say the purpose if you have an animal it's to watch them go crazy with it...lots of fun
mosquitos, well they hurt but it's not that bad..wasps same thing (well I've never been stung by a wasp but I have by a yellowjacket and I think that's just as bad) and this is coming from someone who has a low tolerance for pain.
roaches which are the dirtiest, grossest creatures ever. I remember when roaches were in our old kitchen, I would go out there to eat something and I would walk right back out empty handed once I saw them crawling. they literally made me nauseous. I don't understand their purpose for sure and they took forever to get rid of (they say that roaches are one of the few creatures to survive a war)

as for fleas I can't understand it at all...why are they on this earth? unfortunately Rocky still has fleas and it's a pain in the butt. thankfully they don't bite me anymore but they bite Rocky a lot. worst of all he has a flea allergy apparently but vet gave us a pill to help that and a pill to stop fleas some as well..but those buggers are hard to get rid of. we've even moved everything and vacuumed with this earth powder and keeping him away until he's out of the bath but that did nothing. I guess if you had to think of a purpose for fleas it would be to have people like my mom be more motivated to clean the apt more (but even then I don't think we need that because we're having an inspection next week so we don't need the fleas as a motivator)
but if you think fleas are bad, try having bed bugs which brings me to what Icad said:

I always find it amusing how people (not you, OP, just people in general) advocate getting back to nature and being natural all that...and then they complain about bugs that bite them. Can't have one without the other, I'm afraid. :) And just because something bothers you, that doesn't mean that they're purposeless. You just have to look at the larger picture, is all. if you had bed bugs, I'm pretty sure you'd change your tune about this esp if you had a mom who somewhat hoards because of her ADD (esp stuffed animals).

we used to have bed bugs bad. they made me itchy (and like my mom if I get an itch I have to scratch or I'll feel extreme torture. I've picked scabs because of this) and feel like I'd have to take a shower all the time. the process to get rid of them was extensive and intense because they get over everything. they leave you embarrassing welt marks. I wouldn't wish them on even my worst enemy, it was literally a living hell. worst part is you can get them anywhere at any time. thankfully we don't have em at our current apt (but I still worry if they'll lurk back because I've heard they really like to lurk in hotels) but when we have gotten rid of one bug problem, we get another. first we had ants then when we got rid of those we had roaches, then bed bugs and now fleas. will this nightmare end? but again I'd rather have anything else than bed bugs, even fleas.

paksetti

25th May 2012, 11:24 PM

BlakeS5678

25th May 2012, 11:36 PM

I always wondered. What's the function of younger siblings. (And, other annoying people you have to live with)

iCad

25th May 2012, 11:50 PM

Random replies:

Except bats carry all sorts of communicable diseases like rabies. They're essentially flying rats.

*shrugs* Some do. Most don't. My son and my housemate's son built a number of batboxes on our property a few years back, each of which will house about 15 or 20 of the bats that migrate through our area in the spring/summer. We have a large, still pond on our property, so mosquitoes can be a problem, in season. However, we believe in natural methods of pest control rather than spraying chemicals all over the place, and we noticed a significant improvement in our very local mosquito situation once a number of bats moved into the batboxes. (It's not surprising since a single bat can eat 1000 mosquitoes an hour and colonies can of bats can number in the thousands, even into the millions. You do the math. Our little seasonal colony is never THAT big, but we probably have around 100 or so in the boxes, in season. So, they can take care of 100,000 mosquitoes per hour.) Neighbors have also commented that they have less mosquito problems since we started actively attracting bats to our property and some have also had our kids make some boxes for them, too. None of us has noticed any rabid ones. But then, we don't see them much. They're sleeping in their boxes during the day. (We peek in; they're adorable. The teeny little babies even more so.) At night, they're generally flying about, doing their thing, not bothering us at all. (But I love watching them, since I'm nocturnal, like they are. Very acrobatic fliers. Awesome critters. But then, I like rats and rodents in general, too. I'm an animal-lover in general, I'm afraid.) Oh, and their poop is an AWESOME fertilizer.

if you had bed bugs, I'm pretty sure you'd change your tune about this esp if you had a mom who somewhat hoards because of her ADD (esp stuffed animals).

Oh, I've had worse. I've had chiggers, and they lasted for MONTHS. And they target areas that you really, REALLY do not want to have targeted. (i.e. the groin) That was NOT fun. But I just accept that if you're going to be out and about, communing with nature, bugs are (and definitely, IMO, should be) a big part of the package. Some bugs can make one very uncomfortable, yes, but they are what nature made them to be. I guess I'm just not one for sterile living, in general, and I accept all the consequences thereof. And I do tend to look at the larger picture.

And: For your (or anyone else's) flea problem, the best solution, I've found, is to give your pets garlic oil pills. Garlic oil is a natural flea deterrent when the pet ingests it; it makes an animal's blood (Animals including humans, of course) unpalatable to fleas, so they will leave them eventually and then stay off of them. Sure, drugs/chemicals will work, too, but like I said, we go for natural methods of pest control wherever possible. Unfortunately, you have to flea-bomb your house on occasion until the fleas don't like you and your pet(s) anymore, to get fleas and their eggs out of carpets and stuff. But other than that... And, as a benefit, garlic oil gives your dog/cat a nice shiny coat and better heart health, just like it does for humans. And no, they don't end up smelling like garlic at all. They'll only do that if you feed them garlic in its raw form, from the bulb itself. Capsules of oil are filtered so that they don't smell, just like fish oil capsules. You will hear it said that garlic is toxic to dogs, but that's only if eaten in huge quantities and they're eating the actual bulb. The oil itself is harmless. And garlic oil pills are cheap, much cheaper than the drugs/chemicals, and can be found in just about any grocery store that carries vitamin supplements. One capsule a day will do for each pet, until the fleas are gone. After that, one capsule every few days will keep up their "immunity," so that they don't bring more in from outside. I now live in a place where there are no fleas (Or roaches for that matter. Too high, too dry, too cold), but when I lived on the East coast, this was a lifesaver. Well, not literally, but it made all of us, pets and humans, far more comfortable. Unfortunately, garlic doesn't seem work as well for ticks, at least not the ones we have here, which ARE a problem where I live now...but I'm determined to find a natural solution for them, too...

Anyway, the garlic cure for fleas has long been known-about, and is likely the basis for the vampire lore, given that vampires are similarly blood-sucking creatures. :)

paksetti

26th May 2012, 12:03 AM

You are a cool person, iCad.

iCad

26th May 2012, 01:46 AM

You are a cool person, iCad.

Why thank you, paksetti. :) In reality, I'm just a freakin' hippie. Right down to the fondness for patchouli. ;) I'm not the world's biggest treehugger and I actually tend to think that a lot of environmentalist claims are exaggerated, but I do like to live in harmony with my environment as much as possible rather than trying to dominate it.

...Which reminds me that I need to go have a chat with the Indian herbalist who lives down the road a piece. I'll bet SHE know what to do about the damned ticks... :p

And I have to say this: I love your sig. :lol:

Drakesecaravdis

28th May 2012, 08:02 AM

Eh. Everyone has insects in their house all the time, you just have to keep everything balanced. You'll never be able to get rid of every single bug. It's important to know which bugs are harmful to you or your property, which ones are "neutral" and which ones are beneficial. The vast majority (save for parasites and the like) have no interest in you, and probably go out of their way to stay away from a giant ape thumping around their home. Pff, there's no point in hating bugs. If your bedbug/flea/roach/ant/whatever problem is really as horrible as you say, you should probably call a professional exterminator.

Fyi, cockroaches are only as dirty as their surroundings, they actually clean themselves meticulously.

oh I know like I said flies and ants and even bees don't matter to me. when I say I hate bugs, I mean when I see one I kill one (I won't kill bees I'll just walk away from them of course) but I mean I'm not going to scream or get sick over a dinky little fly/ant/bee. basically I classify bugs like that as minor annoyance, that's all
well you'd probly say the same about worms but I find them gross too (funny thing is when I was little I used to try and find worms but now I look back on it and think what a gross child I was..esp since that wasn't the grossest thing I had done but I will not mention that since for one thing it's not relevant to this thread.), although not as gross as roaches because roaches just seem and look way dirtier but they don't bother me anymore since I don't have the infestation of them anymore

And: For your (or anyone else's) flea problem, the best solution, I've found, is to give your pets garlic oil pills. Garlic oil is a natural flea deterrent when the pet ingests it; it makes an animal's blood (Animals including humans, of course) unpalatable to fleas, so they will leave them eventually and then stay off of them. Sure, drugs/chemicals will work, too, but like I said, we go for natural methods of pest control wherever possible. Unfortunately, you have to flea-bomb your house on occasion until the fleas don't like you and your pet(s) anymore, to get fleas and their eggs out of carpets and stuff. But other than that... And, as a benefit, garlic oil gives your dog/cat a nice shiny coat and better heart health, just like it does for humans. And no, they don't end up smelling like garlic at all. They'll only do that if you feed them garlic in its raw form, from the bulb itself. Capsules of oil are filtered so that they don't smell, just like fish oil capsules. You will hear it said that garlic is toxic to dogs, but that's only if eaten in huge quantities and they're eating the actual bulb. The oil itself is harmless. And garlic oil pills are cheap, much cheaper than the drugs/chemicals, and can be found in just about any grocery store that carries vitamin supplements. One capsule a day will do for each pet, until the fleas are gone. After that, one capsule every few days will keep up their "immunity," so that they don't bring more in from outside. I now live in a place where there are no fleas (Or roaches for that matter. Too high, too dry, too cold), but when I lived on the East coast, this was a lifesaver. Well, not literally, but it made all of us, pets and humans, far more comfortable. Unfortunately, garlic doesn't seem work as well for ticks, at least not the ones we have here, which ARE a problem where I live now...but I'm determined to find a natural solution for them, too...

Anyway, the garlic cure for fleas has long been known-about, and is likely the basis for the vampire lore, given that vampires are similarly blood-sucking creatures. :)

hmm well I will think about that but I keep thinking about how the vet said that we are never going to get rid of those fleas if we don't sterilize the environment and it makes sense right because then they can spread out and don't have to worry about you having to get them off your animal since they won't be on em so I think the garlic pill would be the same, it would not get rid of them by itself.
and my impatient self does not like that this is logical because well like I said my mom has ADD which means a lot of stuff in our apt (don't get me wrong she has made progress but for someone who has impatience as their middle name it's not getting done soon enough and I can't very well tell her to throw things away because it's not my stuff. plus she can't do it sometimes because she has her college work and sometimes other chores) this means they can't spray either because the stuff will be in the way.
I think this is the main reason I don't like bugs. I mean I hate bugs in general but I can deal with flies and ants as well as a somewhat girly girl can..however the bugs like fleas are difficult to deal with because of the amount of stuff my mom has prolonging the infestation

I always wondered. What's the function of younger siblings. (And, other annoying people you have to live with)
hehe I'm an only child but I wouldn't say I don't know what that's like. I had someone at one time that was like a little brother and it definitely made me be grateful I never had a real brother because he was bad enough.
I still would have liked a sister though but that would never happen since my mom is past her time.

haricots

28th May 2012, 12:45 PM

Why are you talking about my servants? *put on leash to my mosquito queen*

HarVee

28th May 2012, 01:43 PM

Nature has a funny way of getting back at you when you least expect it.

Rawra

28th May 2012, 02:35 PM

BlakeS5678

28th May 2012, 09:06 PM

I hate those little motherf*ckers, really. And I wouldn't even be annoyed merely by the fact that they make awfully itchy spots on my body, but I HATE HATE HATE when they are flying around me and making that absolutely horrible buzz. Also, at night. Always, always at night.

Oh, my. There was a lot of "HATE" in that sentence. I don't know if a mosquito crawled up YOUR pantyhose and died or if you just didn't have a "snickers bar" today yet.

McChoclatey

28th May 2012, 10:30 PM

Female mosquitoes are the bloodsuckers you hate. :) A male mosquito drinks the nectar out of fruits and flowers, while a female mosquito needs our blood to help fertilize her eggs. Once she's got enough blood, she'll lay her eggs in water, for them to hatch in later on. You often can't feel when a mosquito is biting you because she carries special enzymes in her saliva that sort of "numbs" the pain until she's finished. That's why you can only feel what she's done to you after the bite, and not during. :)

Rawra

28th May 2012, 10:32 PM

Oh, my. There was a lot of "HATE" in that sentence. I don't know if a mosquito crawled up YOUR pantyhose and died or if you just didn't have a "snickers bar" today yet.

I'm not sure if that's amusing or disturbing. Or both. I'll go with both. :lol:

whiterider

28th May 2012, 11:04 PM

hmm well I will think about that but I keep thinking about how the vet said that we are never going to get rid of those fleas if we don't sterilize the environmentThey're bloodsuckers, though, so if you can keep them off the dog (and anything else alive) for long enough, they'll starve.

Ah, bugs. I used to have a big big swarm of these little green flying insects that lived right outside my window. If I left the window open even five minutes after sunset, there would be hundreds of them sitting on the ceiling. I tell you, there are few experiences equal to having to use a broom to sweep up the carcasses once you've sprayed a room with bug killer. Lucky I had a laminate floor.

I didn't mind those so much, though. They were pretty benign. Mosquitos are the ones I can't stand, and not because of the bites (though I'm not a fan of being bitten either). The problem with mozzies is that the sound they make when flying is the perfect pitch for waking me up. Every fifteen minutes. All night.
I was staying in a rented apartment in Rome for a couple of weeks last summer, and we had mozzies. There was one in my bedroom keeping me up, so I figured, fine - it can have the bedroom. Shut it in there and fell asleep on the sofa instead. Then discovered the little fucker could get through the crack under the door. Such sweet relief when I finally squished it with a shoe, even if the landlord wasn't too impressed with the red and brown smear on his newly-painted white wall. I tell you, I'm a crack shot with a shoe or a bus timetable book.

I do also... *try* to not be quite so destructive as the above suggests, though. When I first moved into my current place, I kept seeing small brown things in the kitchen, always vanishing too quickly for me to get a good look at them. I was convinced they were cockroaches, and really not happy with that prospect at all. Turned out they were actually mice - so every time I see one of them now, instead of thinking "Gah, fucking mice", I think "At least it's not a cockroach".
...
I will admit, though, that after one of the damn things spent all last night clanking, even after I put away everything metal; and then finally managed to knock a cheese grater in such a way that, in true Rube Goldberg style, a hammer ended up falling off the table and landing on my foot at 4am, I did spend some time standing in the kitchen, wielding the hammer, muttering under my breath about how mousey's attempts to send me crazy had worked and I hoped it would be happy with the squished yet crunchy result.

haricots

29th May 2012, 10:26 AM

I hate those little motherf*ckers, really.
You hate them? I think...
http://i1195.photobucket.com/albums/aa396/haricotz/128871117838408019.jpg

TortureTheNannies

29th May 2012, 11:13 AM

For almost all species, self-interest is the key to their motivation. What they don't understand is their role in the larger scheme of the web-of-life. Mosquitoes, fleas, and the diseases they carry do two things for us larger animals. Balance the numbers 1) and improve the remnant 2) . If left to their own free will, many mammals would consume all the food in sight, make thousands of babies, starve and self-terminate the species. Mosquitoes can drive a moose mad and disrupt mating. Also the diseases kill some, make others unable to reproduce, and slow down somebody so he can be eaten by a predator. Together, the complex interaction of several species decides how many wolves, deer, mice, and other creatures should exist in a habitat. When that habitat is stressed, the balance changes, and some interesting plagues can result.
The rule is, nature does not decide who is right. Nature only decides who is left.

paksetti

29th May 2012, 07:38 PM

iCad

29th May 2012, 08:08 PM

...although not as gross as roaches because roaches just seem and look way dirtier but they don't bother me anymore since I don't have the infestation of them anymore

You do realize, of course, that you and especially your dog are far, FAR dirtier than ANY insect will ever be? Insects, especially social/colonial ones like roaches, ants, bees, etc, are METICULOUSLY clean creatures, constantly grooming themselves. They put all mammals, including us apes, completely to shame. Even the diseases that some insects (like mosquitoes) carry come not from the insects themselves but from what they've fed on. Which is, again, mammals.

Mammals: the dirtiest, smelliest, most disgusting creatures ever to hit the planet. We're just lucky that, in comparison to most mammals, we have a very stunted sense of smell. :lol:

hmm well I will think about that but I keep thinking about how the vet said that we are never going to get rid of those fleas if we don't sterilize the environment and it makes sense right because then they can spread out and don't have to worry about you having to get them off your animal since they won't be on em so I think the garlic pill would be the same, it would not get rid of them by itself.
and my impatient self does not like that this is logical because well like I said my mom has ADD which means a lot of stuff in our apt (don't get me wrong she has made progress but for someone who has impatience as their middle name it's not getting done soon enough and I can't very well tell her to throw things away because it's not my stuff. plus she can't do it sometimes because she has her college work and sometimes other chores) this means they can't spray either because the stuff will be in the way.
I think this is the main reason I don't like bugs. I mean I hate bugs in general but I can deal with flies and ants as well as a somewhat girly girl can..however the bugs like fleas are difficult to deal with because of the amount of stuff my mom has prolonging the infestation

Well, like I said, you unfortunately have to flea-bomb your place. It's not a spray; it's a wide-spread very fine aerosol-driven vapor mist that will get into/past the clutter well enough to get rid of much of whatever is already there. You do that while at the same time (eventually) offering the fleas nothing to feed on by making your pets (and you, if you want to) unpalatable, but in a safe, drug/chemical-free way. If there's no flea food available, you won't have a flea problem. It's as simple as that.

Now, if you have a heavy infestation already, you're going to need multiple bombs perhaps a few times to get rid of what you have and, yes, it's a pain to bomb. (You have to have no one in the place, seal away all food, take out the plants, etc. Follow instructions carefully.) Of course, it still won't kill everything. Some will survive because that's nature's way. So, the method is a two-prong approach: Kill what you've got as much as you can AND make survivors and any future "guests" (which your pets will always pick up) unwelcome. NO creature will stay in an environment where there's no food. So, if you want to get rid of fleas for good, this is the way to do it, or at least it's the best method I found when fleas were a problem. It certainly doesn't work immediately AND it requires some maintenance on your part in terms of remembering to hand out the garlic pills, but it does work eventually and will last as long as you keep up the maintenance. At the very worst, it will help some. Everything else that I ever tried was simply a stop-gap measure. Or far too on-goingly chemical for my likings. :( Or both.

BlakeS5678

29th May 2012, 09:35 PM

I'm not sure if that's amusing or disturbing. Or both. I'll go with both. :lol:

*Rubs hands villainous-ly together*

Good choice my friend, you live this time.

TortureTheNannies

29th May 2012, 10:28 PM

Paksetti, no... the thought is more complicated than that.
Paksetti: "They exist to eat and fuck. I'm sure there's a better answer, but I think that's pretty much the purpose of life for most things-- to just keep living." --- not what I said.
Paksetti: "Eh. Everyone has insects in their house all the time, you just have to keep everything balanced." -- one word in common, "balanced" .. population control is essential to keep the deer from overrunning the park and consuming all the flora. The best bet is influenza or plague delivered by fleas. If the resulting epidemic kills a thousand humans, that's extra damage, but we kept the deer under control. Fleas, mosquitoes and ticks are important vectors for disease.

paksetti

30th May 2012, 02:04 AM

Hot Jesus, you missed the joke.

What we said is essentially similar, but you were more in depth and were much more eloquent.
Now it's not funny anymore, (if it ever was)

Setanta

30th May 2012, 05:12 AM

i want at least all mosquitos wiped out off the earth

HarVee

30th May 2012, 06:10 AM

i want at least all mosquitos wiped out off the earth

And spiders too. :cool:

VerDeTerre

30th May 2012, 10:51 AM

Removing one species leads to a chain reaction that could wipe out many species. It's a matter of balance, finding it that is. Again, to the mosquito, what is your use? The earth belongs to all of us.

Please pause and take a moment to absorb that: ALL of us.

iCad

31st May 2012, 01:19 AM

Removing one species leads to a chain reaction that could wipe out many species.

^This. Life on Earth is a fragile and interdependent web, and while it's true that we humans are doing our best to remove ourselves from nature, we are still affected by that web. Every living thing has a purpose. We might not see it. We might think a creature, be it an insect or a microbe, does more harm than good. We might, like arachnophobes, have entirely irrational fears about certain creatures. But the fact is that every living thing fills a niche of some sort. Even some not-so-living things, like viruses, serve a valuable purpose and fill the very valuable "population control" niche. And all of those niches are important. Removing a species creates a hole in the web, or more accurately, it's like a hole in pantyhose, which starts as a little hole and just gets bigger and nastier as time goes on.

The consequences of that hole can be small -- Especially if something else moves in to quickly fill the empty niche -- but sometimes they can be truly disastrous. And the loss of a kind of insect, even "just" the mosquito, or of spiders as a whole might very well be more on the disastrous end of the scale. Because, guess what, the "lower" you go on the food chain, the MORE IMPORTANT, not less important, that creature is, because far more other organisms are depending on the "lower" life forms than they are depending on the "higher" ones. So, human beings could be wiped out tomorrow, and life would probably go on just fine. In all likelihood, we wouldn't be missed, except perhaps by those diseases/parasites that have evolved specifically to target humans. (There are a few.) But if we were to lose bees (and we are losing them), that would be a BIG problem. As would losing amphibians. (Yep, we're losing them, too.) As would losing corals (And those are dying, TOO, thanks to ocean warming). And if the plankton ever go, life on Earth, at least as we know it, is screwed.

Which isn't to say that life wouldn't go on in some way, of course. Life went on after the K/T event that wiped out the dinosaurs along with 3/4 of life on Earth. But it was an entirely different KIND of life that came to be, because the resulting environment was one that allowed mammals (and deciduous trees) to become dominant. So, if we keep going like we are, the Earth will still support life, no matter what the extreme environmentalists say. It just won't be a kind of life that agrees with us, is all.

Now, I realize that those of you who wanted certain species wiped out were probably joking. I get it. But really, it's not a funny joke. Because when something like that really does happen, it's generally a bad thing, not a good thing. Sometimes, like I said, it can be a truly disastrous-for-us kind of thing. Wiping out a species is not something to be taken lightly, no matter how "annoying" or even possibly lethal that species is from our own small point of view.

VerDeTerre

31st May 2012, 03:44 AM

Very eloquently put, iCad.

Drakesecaravdis

31st May 2012, 07:52 AM

You do realize, of course, that you and especially your dog are far, FAR dirtier than ANY insect will ever be? Insects, especially social/colonial ones like roaches, ants, bees, etc, are METICULOUSLY clean creatures, constantly grooming themselves. They put all mammals, including us apes, completely to shame. Even the diseases that some insects (like mosquitoes) carry come not from the insects themselves but from what they've fed on. Which is, again, mammals.

Mammals: the dirtiest, smelliest, most disgusting creatures ever to hit the planet. We're just lucky that, in comparison to most mammals, we have a very stunted sense of smell. :lol:

Well, like I said, you unfortunately have to flea-bomb your place. It's not a spray; it's a wide-spread very fine aerosol-driven vapor mist that will get into/past the clutter well enough to get rid of much of whatever is already there. You do that while at the same time (eventually) offering the fleas nothing to feed on by making your pets (and you, if you want to) unpalatable, but in a safe, drug/chemical-free way. If there's no flea food available, you won't have a flea problem. It's as simple as that.

Now, if you have a heavy infestation already, you're going to need multiple bombs perhaps a few times to get rid of what you have and, yes, it's a pain to bomb. (You have to have no one in the place, seal away all food, take out the plants, etc. Follow instructions carefully.) Of course, it still won't kill everything. Some will survive because that's nature's way. So, the method is a two-prong approach: Kill what you've got as much as you can AND make survivors and any future "guests" (which your pets will always pick up) unwelcome. NO creature will stay in an environment where there's no food. So, if you want to get rid of fleas for good, this is the way to do it, or at least it's the best method I found when fleas were a problem. It certainly doesn't work immediately AND it requires some maintenance on your part in terms of remembering to hand out the garlic pills, but it does work eventually and will last as long as you keep up the maintenance. At the very worst, it will help some. Everything else that I ever tried was simply a stop-gap measure. Or far too on-goingly chemical for my likings. :( Or both.

me? well I do have a dirty mind so in that aspect maybe hehe but other than that, I feel way more clean than an insect.
a) I wash my hands constantly. when I'm picking up Rocky's crap, I use hand sanitizer before I touch my face AND wash my hands as soon as I get inside. I also wash them before I eat especially if I've touched Rocky. I think my hands are going to end up like my mom's one day. I wash them THAT MUCH. I even wash them after I'm done using a pencil even if I'm not eating.
b) I don't have any diseases. I rarely even get colds. of course I'm not going to say my immune system is perfect but it's a pretty good one since the worst I get is headaches (knock on wood, just in case I jinx it)
c) as a lady I try to avoid all things dirty. just stepping in mud grosses me out and I really watch what I eat..not in terms of dieting, I mean if I'm scared it went bad I do not take that chance.
d) I'll give you that about Rocky. he does smell at times and really bad at that but I don't blame him as much as I do the fact that we don't get to give him a bath as often as he should. although I wouldn't say hes that dirty, I've seen him clean himself like a cat many times.

guess I'm not part of this we, I have an amazing sense of smell (I'd rather have better eyesight than this because it's not very fun and almost has no benefits but oh well)

as to the flea bombs, I think I will try it if this other doesn't work. I'm just kind of in disbelief because people tell me something works and then it doesn't and other people have said that flea bombs didn't work for them. I don't want to have to spend like 50 dollars or so on flea bombs (and yes I do mean 50 because 10 dollars= 50 in my life) and then find out I got unlucky with it (because let's face it I am one of the unluckiest people)

So, human beings could be wiped out tomorrow, and life would probably go on just fine. In all likelihood, we wouldn't be missed, except perhaps by those diseases/parasites that have evolved specifically to target humans.

Now, I realize that those of you who wanted certain species wiped out were probably joking. I get it. But really, it's not a funny joke. Because when something like that really does happen, it's generally a bad thing, not a good thing. Sometimes, like I said, it can be a truly disastrous-for-us kind of thing. Wiping out a species is not something to be taken lightly, no matter how "annoying" or even possibly lethal that species is from our own small point of view.

you're forgetting about domesticated animals, they would be lost without us.

but what would be so bad about wiping out fleas? no life form needs fleas as food to live. spiders have other bugs to eat so they don't need them. as long as I get rid of them and they never come back to me, it'd be fine I know but I just honestly don't see the purpose of them.

hazelgrant19

31st May 2012, 08:36 AM

To answer the thread title => What's the fuction of musquitos (And other annoying insects)?

I'm not certain with it but all I know is that they are here (mosquito and other insects) to balance the ecosystem...^_^

Everything are created with purpose and only GOD can answer certainly that purpose...

Or we also can in a right time or in due process...^_^

paksetti

31st May 2012, 06:33 PM

Hahaha, you're such a teenager, drake.

You may feel like you're cleaner than every other smelly human, but you're still a human. iCad wasn't talking about one person being cleaner than another, or one person having a better sense of smell than another. Put your sense of smell up against your cat- you'd lose.

(domesticated animals wouldn't be domesticated in the first place if it weren't for humans, and if we all just suddenly disappeared, the ones that don't die without us will live, have better babies, then their babies would have babies and so on--that's just nature, brah)

iCad

31st May 2012, 10:25 PM

me? well I do have a dirty mind so in that aspect maybe hehe but other than that, I feel way more clean than an insect.

The simple fact of the matter, Drake, is that you are a mammal. No matter how much you clean yourself, no matter how illness-free you are (which doesn't mean that you don't carry any, BTW), your skin secretes sebum, an oil. All mammalian skin does, because it's what helps us to retain water or else we'd be quickly sucked dry in our relatively waterless environment. You're secreting sebum all the time. If you didn't, you wouldn't remain healthy because dehydration does truly devastating things to the body. As soon as you detergent yourself in the shower or by washing your hands or whatever, more replaces it. And because it's an oil, all kinds of stuff tends to stick to it. Now, we humans ARE a bit luckier than most mammals in that we have less hair than most. (The only mammals that have less are the cetaceans because, in their environment, hair would only create drag.) The combination of sebum and hair REALLY ramps up the dirt factor, hence why your dog will stink (even according to your stunted sense of smell!) more quickly than you will if you both go without a bath. But we're still dirty mammals. Every last one of us. So while you may "feel cleaner," you aren't. At all. Ever. At least, not in comparison to any insect. Even dung beetles that live in poop. :)

Insects (and arthropods in general) don't have skin. They have an exoskeleton, made of a remarkably-strong fibrous substance called chitin, which is sugar-based and related to cellulose, the stuff that gives celery its crunch. It's what crunches when you step on a roach. Since, unlike skin, water can't permeate chitin, it's the substance that allows arthropods to retain their water. (Much better than we do, actually; in general, insects can go without water longer than any endoskeletal creature can, even the vaunted camelids.) Chitin doesn't secrete anything. So, nothing sticks to bugs unless they make it so, which when it happens usually happens in larvae like certain caterpillars (i.e bagworms) and aquatic insect larvae, which build "houses" for themselves as camouflage/protection.

And think of it this way: Ants and other social/colonial insects live in colonies of millions, perhaps even billions, all enclosed in very small spaces. In that situation, hygiene becomes extremely important or else it's just inviting diseases that can wipe out the whole colony very quickly. So, watch an ant going about its business for five minutes some day. I guarantee you will see it pause to groom itself at least ten times during that five minutes, especially its feet and antennae. Oil-secreting mammals, even humans, simply can't compare. Cockroaches are the same. They have a reputation as "dirty" creatures, but they themselves are actually very clean. Sure, their environment might be dirty, but that's the fault of the people who create the filth, not the cockroaches. :) But because cockroaches groom constantly, the filth isn't transferred to them, at least not for long.

So, in the cleanliness battle, insects will win across the board vs. ANY mammal, even the most OCDly-germophobic human on the planet. It's just an outcome of our very different respective physiologies, is all. It's not a slur against humans/mammals; it's just the Way It Is. I think perhaps that people would be less grossed-out by bugs if they'd simply take the time to learn stuff like this. I cohabitate very well with ants, myself, because I know they're probably the cleanest things in my entire house. :lol: (Housework is not my forte, I'm afraid.)

So, insects: The most OCD creatures ever to hit the planet. :lol:

And like paksetti said, in comparison to most mammals we (and the other apes, actually) have little-to-no sense of smell. Our smelling apparatus is greatly atrophied simply because we evolved such that it isn't as important to us as it is to other animals. We also don't hear nearly as well as most mammals. Eyesight became the vastly primary sense for us apes, hence why we have stereoscopic vision, which gives us depth perception. And, like I said, we should be thankful for it. The world is a very smelly place, and we don't smell even a quarter of it, no matter how good a sense of smell an individual might have.

Flea bombs: They "won't work" if you use just them and still continue to have pets who will simply bring in new fleas as soon as the effects of the bomb wears off. The new fleas will cry "BANZAI!" and go to work. Like I said, it HAS to be a two-prong approach: Kill what you've got the extent that you can WHILE AT THE SAME TIME making your pets (and you, if you choose) unpalatable to fleas. You can do the latter with something like Frontline on your pets, but I prefer not to drown my pets in chemicals, thankyouverymuch, no matter how "safe" they're supposed to be. So, I went with garlic oil capsules. And it worked for me. Like I said, it requires patience and maintenance, however. There is no "instant magic cure" for flea infestations, I'm afraid. They're tenacious little buggers. :) And you have to bomb your whole place, too, making sure you open all the closet doors and such. If you only bomb a room a two, the fleas will just migrate to where it's safe and bide their time. :)

As to domesticated animals: I farm llamas and alpacas. We also have horses, dogs, cats, and chickens. All are "domesticated," but knowing them all as I do, I'm fairly certain that if I and all other humans were wiped out tomorrow they'd get on just fine all by themselves. After all, feral "domesticated" dogs and cats get on just fine. Sure, they'd have to learn to find food other than out of dumpsters or what-have-you, but I'm sure their natural instincts will kick in just fine. Humans are at the top of the food chain, as they say. As such, we can easily be done without. There are plenty of other apex predators who will easily (and gladly) fill our niche.

And FINALLY: The purpose of fleas. Like I said, ALL living things fill a niche or else they wouldn't continue to exist. If nothing else, as someone else said, fleas serve a valuable (if unpleasant) role as disease vectors. Disease may not be pretty/shiny/fun, but it (and predation) are nature's primary methods of population control, and population controls are vitally necessary. The fact that we humans have made ourselves largely impervious to predation and have made great strides in making ourselves impervious to disease, both resulting in a lifespan far longer than nature intended, is precisely WHY we have an "overpopulation" problem. As I once read somewhere: It isn't that humans suddenly started breeding like rabbits; it's that they suddenly stopped dying like flies, around the turn of the 20th century. But that's a whole other discussion. :) So yeah, losing fleas as a whole, as unpleasant as they are, would probably be one of the more disastrous species to lose.

paksetti

1st Jun 2012, 12:33 AM

iCad

1st Jun 2012, 12:42 AM

I couldn't agree with everything you've said more, except I do believe you meant that as a slur against mammals. You're bigoted against mammals-- admit it! You'd rather be something less oily and bony, wouldn't you?

You're a mammal! Show your mammalian pride! Don't let those fucking insecta get you down, we're clearly part of the coolest class around.
I mean, do ants have the internet? Idon'tthinksothankyouverymuch.

(fuck platypodes)

:lol:

OK, I admit it. I'm actually a dragonfly in disguise. Can't you tell by my avatar? It's why I loooooooooooooooove mosquitoes, you see. Very tasty. Don't let my fondness for bats fool you. In reality, they are evil competitors for my tasty, tasty mammal-blood-filled mosquitoes. Mmmm mmm gooooood!

:lol:

Drakesecaravdis

1st Jun 2012, 09:49 AM

The simple fact of the matter, Drake, is that you are a mammal. No matter how much you clean yourself, no matter how illness-free you are (which doesn't mean that you don't carry any, BTW), your skin secretes sebum, an oil. All mammalian skin does, because it's what helps us to retain water or else we'd be quickly sucked dry in our relatively waterless environment. You're secreting sebum all the time. If you didn't, you wouldn't remain healthy because dehydration does truly devastating things to the body. As soon as you detergent yourself in the shower or by washing your hands or whatever, more replaces it. And because it's an oil, all kinds of stuff tends to stick to it. Now, we humans ARE a bit luckier than most mammals in that we have less hair than most. (The only mammals that have less are the cetaceans because, in their environment, hair would only create drag.) The combination of sebum and hair REALLY ramps up the dirt factor, hence why your dog will stink (even according to your stunted sense of smell!) more quickly than you will if you both go without a bath. But we're still dirty mammals. Every last one of us. So while you may "feel cleaner," you aren't. At all. Ever. At least, not in comparison to any insect. Even dung beetles that live in poop. :)

Insects (and arthropods in general) don't have skin. They have an exoskeleton, made of a remarkably-strong fibrous substance called chitin, which is sugar-based and related to cellulose, the stuff that gives celery its crunch. It's what crunches when you step on a roach. Since, unlike skin, water can't permeate chitin, it's the substance that allows arthropods to retain their water. (Much better than we do, actually; in general, insects can go without water longer than any endoskeletal creature can, even the vaunted camelids.) Chitin doesn't secrete anything. So, nothing sticks to bugs unless they make it so, which when it happens usually happens in larvae like certain caterpillars (i.e bagworms) and aquatic insect larvae, which build "houses" for themselves as camouflage/protection.

And think of it this way: Ants and other social/colonial insects live in colonies of millions, perhaps even billions, all enclosed in very small spaces. In that situation, hygiene becomes extremely important or else it's just inviting diseases that can wipe out the whole colony very quickly. So, watch an ant going about its business for five minutes some day. I guarantee you will see it pause to groom itself at least ten times during that five minutes, especially its feet and antennae. Oil-secreting mammals, even humans, simply can't compare. Cockroaches are the same. They have a reputation as "dirty" creatures, but they themselves are actually very clean. Sure, their environment might be dirty, but that's the fault of the people who create the filth, not the cockroaches. :) But because cockroaches groom constantly, the filth isn't transferred to them, at least not for long.

So, in the cleanliness battle, insects will win across the board vs. ANY mammal, even the most OCDly-germophobic human on the planet. It's just an outcome of our very different respective physiologies, is all. It's not a slur against humans/mammals; it's just the Way It Is. I think perhaps that people would be less grossed-out by bugs if they'd simply take the time to learn stuff like this. I cohabitate very well with ants, myself, because I know they're probably the cleanest things in my entire house. :lol: (Housework is not my forte, I'm afraid.)

So, insects: The most OCD creatures ever to hit the planet. :lol:

And like paksetti said, in comparison to most mammals we (and the other apes, actually) have little-to-no sense of smell. Our smelling apparatus is greatly atrophied simply because we evolved such that it isn't as important to us as it is to other animals. We also don't hear nearly as well as most mammals. Eyesight became the vastly primary sense for us apes, hence why we have stereoscopic vision, which gives us depth perception. And, like I said, we should be thankful for it. The world is a very smelly place, and we don't smell even a quarter of it, no matter how good a sense of smell an individual might have.

Flea bombs: They "won't work" if you use just them and still continue to have pets who will simply bring in new fleas as soon as the effects of the bomb wears off. The new fleas will cry "BANZAI!" and go to work. Like I said, it HAS to be a two-prong approach: Kill what you've got the extent that you can WHILE AT THE SAME TIME making your pets (and you, if you choose) unpalatable to fleas. You can do the latter with something like Frontline on your pets, but I prefer not to drown my pets in chemicals, thankyouverymuch, no matter how "safe" they're supposed to be. So, I went with garlic oil capsules. And it worked for me. Like I said, it requires patience and maintenance, however. There is no "instant magic cure" for flea infestations, I'm afraid. They're tenacious little buggers. :) And you have to bomb your whole place, too, making sure you open all the closet doors and such. If you only bomb a room a two, the fleas will just migrate to where it's safe and bide their time. :)

As to domesticated animals: I farm llamas and alpacas. We also have horses, dogs, cats, and chickens. All are "domesticated," but knowing them all as I do, I'm fairly certain that if I and all other humans were wiped out tomorrow they'd get on just fine all by themselves. After all, feral "domesticated" dogs and cats get on just fine. Sure, they'd have to learn to find food other than out of dumpsters or what-have-you, but I'm sure their natural instincts will kick in just fine. Humans are at the top of the food chain, as they say. As such, we can easily be done without. There are plenty of other apex predators who will easily (and gladly) fill our niche.

well I know that the human body is disgusting (nutrition class made me lose my appetite for almost a week and women's bodies can be the worst. the worst thing about that month for me is not the cramps but the messes and the smell *shudders*) but it doesn't change the fact that I still think bugs are disgusting (esp roaches and dung beetles) and kill those who get in my way. I think like you said the environment the roaches are in doesn't help. I don't see it as a big deal because bugs are not as sentient as we or any other mammal are (it's not like animal abuse) and it's not like I kill all of them..it's only if they're in my space. you can't rightly tell them they're in your space or smack them til they go away because they won't understand.
bugs of course won't bother me as much if we ever get these fleas away

as to the flea bombs, that's my point. fleas are too difficult to get rid of and when you're talking to someone who has impatience as her middle name, it explains my aversion to fleas. well the thing is we kinda already got the Frontline and if the vet recommends it, could it really be that bad? I would think they'd know better than anyone about these matters.

well I'm not thankful for my eyesight. I mean I'm glad I'm not blind of course but I feel like I got the short end of the stick. I got a great sense of smell and hearing instead of good eyesight. what can I do with my sense of smell? I can't sniff around like a hunting dog with it. as for my hearing, that hasn't benefited me because I have bad audio comprehension..it's gotten to the point where I obsessively check the door thinking someone's knocking when really it's just people upstairs. also the really bad part about my hearing is Rocky literally hurts my ears..it'll hurt even sometime after he stopped barking (not that I don't love him I just wish he'd be more quiet or one day I'm afraid my eardrum will break with all that noise)

but emotionally you have to admit it'd be pretty difficult for them to cope..I know for example Wally from my childhood, his previous owner died and apparently that's why he would whine all the time (even when we had him). I'm not going to say he wasn't happy with us but you could tell he never got over that.

VerDeTerre

1st Jun 2012, 10:41 AM

Drake, it's one thing to want to rid your house of fleas for the comfort of the humans and their animal friends living in it and it's quite another thing to wish them gone from the planet.

Your dog, Wally, wined for his previous owner because he is a pack animal. If he had lived only with other dogs and was separated from them, he would miss them just as much. So, if you're suggesting that domesticated animals would suffer emotionally if humans quit the planet, it would only be for the individuals that had attachments to humans. The species as a whole would get on fine.

BlakeS5678

1st Jun 2012, 10:24 PM

Drake. Silly, willy, you.

Did you *really* have to quote ALL of that?

I don't know why. But, people who say, "I hate this animal. It bothers me. So therefore I want it's entire species to be destroyed."

They just sound really ignorant to me. Look at the bigger picture instead of the mirror all day long. (If you know what I mean)

Rawra

1st Jun 2012, 10:37 PM

I don't know why. But, people who say, "I hate this animal." [...]

Look at the bigger picture instead of the mirror all day long. (If you know what I mean)

Well, mosquitos hate me back, also bees, wasps etc, so we're even.

Mootilda

1st Jun 2012, 11:37 PM

Well, mosquitos hate me back, also bees, wasps etc, so we're even.Actually, I really doubt that they hate you. They may think of you as food, or as a threat, or as a breading mechanism, but I doubt that they hate you unless you make a habit out of torturing specific individuals so that they have some reason to recognize you.

iCad

1st Jun 2012, 11:44 PM

You're entitled to your opinions, of course, Drake. :) If bugs skeeve you out, then nothing I can say will make you change your mind, especially not if we're talking about a phobia, as in a genuinely irrational fear. And I can understand that being inundated with bugs can make one not like them very much. I lived in some roach-infested places when I was young, poor, and living in New York City, and at those times going to the bathroom at night was always an "adventure." :lol: But when I learned a bit about roaches, I understood them better, and then they didn't gross me out as much and I could tolerate them more easily...although they WOULD still startle me because I seemed to live in places where the flying kind had infested the place, and those suckers seemed to come out of nowhere! :lol: But with education came less gross-out and therefore less fretting on my part. So, I suppose my aim is always to educate, about any subject about which I happen to be knowledgeable. I'm not saying that you should never kill a bug, and fleas ARE disease vectors (But roaches aren't) and you don't necessarily want to live in a place infested with them. But I AM saying that maybe if you understood bugs better, you might not be so grossed-out by them, and then you'll just be happier in general. Especially if you're going to keep having mammalian pets because I'm afraid that fleas (and ticks and other unlovelies like internal wormy parasites) are part and parcel of any dog/cat that goes outside or that lives with other pets that do so.

And I'm afraid fleas DO require patience to get rid of, once you've got them. There's simply no way around it. So, if you REALLY want to get rid of them, you'll have to find patience within yourself somewhere. Only you can decide if it's worth the effort to try to do so. As for Frontline...Sure, it's been declared safe, and vets will hand it out like candy. That doesn't mean that I want my babies covered in it. Remember, I'm a hippie. Chemicals and I do not get along well, so I will always try natural remedies before I'll haul out pharmaceuticals and pesticides and such. So no, I'm not going to recommend Frontline to you, but if after you do some reading about it, that's your method of choice, by all means go for it. :) You'll still need to get rid of what you already have in your place, though. I'm afraid that I never found any effective non-chemical way to do so, however. :(

Regardless of how bad your individual eyesight might be, primate eyesight (including that of humans) is light years of ahead of most other animals', particularly when it comes to color perception and depth perception. I'm not necessarily talking about acuity, which of course varies from one person to another and which of course generally deteriorates with age, but rather to the basic properties of primate eyesight in general. And our hearing and smelling is light years behind most other animals'. It's just a matter of what became important (and what became less-important) as we evolved as a species, is all. Just be thankful that you can't hear all that Rocky hears because if you think the barking of a small dog is piercing...Yow. I'm glad of the things we can't hear. And smell.

And I think you're human-ifying dogs a bit too much. Like VerDeTerre said, they are pack animals, and as such are obliged to form bonds with those they live with. Of course, they're intended to live with/bond with other dogs, living in extended families like coyotes and wolves and such, but since humans found them useful, they adapted to bond with humans, too. So yes, if that bond is severed, they will feel the loss, particularly if they are dogs that don't live with other dogs. However, dogs don't have the psychology that we have. It won't cause them permanent emotional scars from which they'll never recover, blah blah. Rather, they are very adaptable, as are all animals. So, if forced to do so, they will simply replace that bond with others and, if humans aren't around, it will be with other dogs, as nature intended. So, if I and my family are gone tomorrow, I'm sure my pack of 6 will get on fine. Especially because they're already a pack amongst themselves, complete with a stable, generally peaceful hierarchy. In general, I'm talking about survival, not about happiness. A dog may whine when it loses its human master, but in all likelihood it WILL ultimately survive because even though it's been brainwashed, in a way, its basic survival instincts are still there.

Rawra

1st Jun 2012, 11:57 PM

Actually, I really doubt that they hate you. They may think of you as food, or as a threat, or as a breading mechanism, but I doubt that they hate you unless you make a habit out of torturing specific individuals so that they have some reason to recognize you.

It was a figure of speech.

paksetti

2nd Jun 2012, 01:00 AM

Sounds like somebody needs a close-up picture of a flea!

http://ferrebeekeeper.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/1.jpg

Look at that doofy bastard!
(I used to be genuinely terrified of bugs, the only ways to fix that irrational junk are education and exposure!)

iCad

2nd Jun 2012, 01:10 AM

Fleas are such weird creatures. Their flatness is just...bizarre. But that's a cool pic. I love scanning electron micrographs, especially when colorized like that. :) For this reason, I have a whole very techy and quite thick book of nothing but SEMs of ant heads. Just ant heads. It's an identification guide, actually, because some ant species can ONLY be differentiated by looking at SEMs of their heads.

Yes, yes, I'm fascinated by social insects, I'm afraid. :lol: I've loved bugs since the day I was born, apparently. Strange, but...there it is.

Drakesecaravdis

2nd Jun 2012, 05:26 AM

Drake, it's one thing to want to rid your house of fleas for the comfort of the humans and their animal friends living in it and it's quite another thing to wish them gone from the planet..
that's not what I said and if it helps they can stay alive and go torment my ex boyfriend or my father instead of me.

the picture still looks gross to me Paxs and it actually makes me feel literally itchy looking at it but if it helps I do like a bug a lot and that is Sparx the dragonfly and some other little bugs from Spyro the dragon. ok so I know that's not really what you wanted but hey what do you expect I'm an Aquarius so of course reality bites for me (why do you think I love the Sims so much..I probly love Sims even more than a lot of you Simmers here)
see if bugs in this life were as cute and cool as Sparx it would be amazing.
I do like butterflies like I said but I suppose that's easy for me because their wings are so beautiful. my favorites are obviously girly:
http://butterflies.aa6g.org/Butterflies/rhetenor.gif
http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/7900000/But-butterflies-7911918-300-300.jpg

paksetti

2nd Jun 2012, 05:36 AM

hahaha.

have a praying mantis tea party.
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3416/3200375773_d82aff42c3.jpg

BlakeS5678

2nd Jun 2012, 01:54 PM

Dear god...!

I leave for merely a few hours and when I came, back bugs have taken over the forum!

Rawra

2nd Jun 2012, 03:48 PM

Please, for the love of God, stop with the insect pictures. O.O

iCad

2nd Jun 2012, 09:21 PM

Please, for the love of God, stop with the insect pictures. O.O

Hey, it's a thread about the function of insects, right? Well, sometimes their function is to be pretty. :) And pictures say a thousand words. Like, here's me:

http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu261/icads_sims/Aeshna_multicolor1.jpg

I's purty, eh? ;)

ETA: @Paksetti: That mantis is awesome! Is it newly molted or a mutant, or is there an actual white mantis? I confess that I don't know much about the mantids...

Drakesecaravdis

3rd Jun 2012, 05:14 AM

Please, for the love of God, stop with the insect pictures. O.O
ok I still find insects gross just as you but you have to admit as a lady that butterflies wings are pretty, Creeper.

isn't this a beaut?: http://images2.fanpop.com/image/photos/9200000/Rainbow-Butterfly-butterflies-9284251-500-500.jpg
I liked the blue one a lot but now I saw this one and I think it's my fav. it mesmerizes me (almost as much as something shiny does)

paksetti

3rd Jun 2012, 07:52 PM

@iCad Yes, it's white! It's called an Orchid Mantis.

Here's a molted jumping spider, though http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4ykxhcIiu1r4nd19o1_500.jpg He looks like he's made of jelly!

edit: Go here now-> http://adorablespiders.tumblr.com/

Rawra

3rd Jun 2012, 08:28 PM

^That awkward moment when that thing is on your wall, you look away, and it's not there anymore. I can guarantee I would have a heart attack.

iCad

3rd Jun 2012, 09:39 PM

^That awkward moment when that thing is on your wall, you look away, and it's not there anymore. I can guarantee I would have a heart attack.

Awww, c'mon! Jumping spiders have to be some of the cutest arthropods on the planet. Little teeny fuzzballs with big bushbaby-style eyes. And those of you who don't like bedbugs oughta like 'em, because I BELIEVE that jumping spiders are small enough to prey on them. Of course, if you're small enough to be prey, then they're viscious predators that you should greatly fear, but they can't even bite us, for heaven's sake. Their teeny fangs can't begin to penetrate our skin. (Yes, after to social insects, spiders are my second-favorite arthropod. :lol: )

@paksetti: You know, nature will always surprise me, I think. There aren't that many naturally white creatures in the world, since they tend to stick out like a sore thumb and get picked off by predators. But since that one's called an orchid mantis, I'm guessing it lives amongst white orchid flowers and has evolved color to match. Now, that's just awesome. :)

And my contribution: Hey! Even cockroaches can be pretty! :) See:

http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu261/icads_sims/cockroachI_JP1111.jpg

(Good thing my daughter's not on the forum. She collects exotic roaches, from giant Madagascar hissers to dominoes to death's heads to Egyptians, and many more, and she'd totally be here, defending their honor like a rabid pitbull. :lol: )

Rawra

3rd Jun 2012, 09:45 PM

^I swear you two are doing this on purpose. o.O :lol:

iCad

3rd Jun 2012, 10:03 PM

^I swear you two are doing this on purpose. o.O :lol:

Exposure is good for you. :) It's the only way to overcome nasty phobias. :)

Seriously, bugs (and by that I generally mean arthropods, more the land-based ones than aquatic ones like lobsters, as the word "bug" actually only properly, scientifically refers to the hemipterans, the "true bugs") are some of the world's most amazing creatures. I guess I have an anti-phobia because I truly don't see why they cause the gross-outs they cause. Maybe paksetti's right and I AM ashamed of my stinky, oily, bony, disease-laden, hair-shedding, skin-flaking, germy-mouthed mammalian existence. :lol: WE are the gross ones, not the bugs. :lol:

BlakeS5678

3rd Jun 2012, 11:44 PM

Exposure is good for you. :) It's the only way to overcome nasty phobias. :

Phobia's! Dear god. When did this become a counseling sessions. If I wanted to see gross things and hear a lecture about fears I would've talked to my grandma!

^I swear you two are doing this on purpose. o.O :lol:

You know they are...

paksetti

4th Jun 2012, 03:53 AM

Hey, just because I find it funny that it's bothering y'all doesn't mean I don't also like bugs. I dunno about the schadenfreude on iCad's part, though. She seems to be a lot nicer than me.

and by that I generally mean arthropods, more the land-based ones than aquatic ones like lobsters It confuses me to no end that people are scared of "bugs" but not lobsters. I thought it was the size, but then people are scared of tarantulas too. Even when I was scared of bugs, I still thought tarantulas were cool. Wonder how people feel about this guy http://www.equalium.net/imagenes/230px-Giant_isopod.jpg

I think naturally white animals are so cool, especially things like the Texas Blind Cave Salamander, one of my absolute favorite animals. http://www.fws.gov/fisheries/nfhs/images/highlights/images/TX%20Blind%20Salamander%20picture%201.jpg IT HAS NO EYES, HOW COOL IS THAT? It kinda looks like an albino axolotl, but with smaller, less red gills.

RoseCity

4th Jun 2012, 07:06 PM

Exposure is good for you. :) It's the only way to overcome nasty phobias. :)

Seriously, bugs (and by that I generally mean arthropods, more the land-based ones than aquatic ones like lobsters, as the word "bug" actually only properly, scientifically refers to the hemipterans, the "true bugs") are some of the world's most amazing creatures. I guess I have an anti-phobia because I truly don't see why they cause the gross-outs they cause. Maybe paksetti's right and I AM ashamed of my stinky, oily, bony, disease-laden, hair-shedding, skin-flaking, germy-mouthed mammalian existence. :lol: WE are the gross ones, not the bugs. :lol:

I agree with you about the exposure thing. I had severe insect phobia earlier in my life, but I wanted to garden and you can't do that without coming in contact with insects. Slowly I saw that they weren't so frightening and were just doing their own things. After a while I started to learn more about their lives and that was very interesting.
Maybe an insect is able to keep its body 'cleaner', but for example roaches crap all over the place and they don't clean it up. I could be wrong but I think that's where human allergies to roaches come from - in a roach infested building, the feces float in the air and get breathed in, causing asthma. I guess I mean that cleanliness involves dealing with the various waste products that a body generates, and humans and insects both vary in that ability. But every? living thing gets dirty and generates waste - creatures that live in groups are probably the worst. Like when crows decide to roost near your property. It's gonna be a mess in the morning and smell really bad.
(Every time I see 'What's the fuction of musquitos?', I have the urge to make bad jokes.)

Rawra

4th Jun 2012, 08:02 PM

this guy

Oh, I wasn't planning to sleep tonight, no worries.

whiterider

4th Jun 2012, 08:45 PM

It confuses me to no end that people are scared of "bugs" but not lobsters. I thought it was the size, but then people are scared of tarantulas too.Well, the chances of ever coming across a (live) lobster whilst asleep/naked/eating/all of the above are pretty slim - and if it does happen, it is perfectly avoidable and entirely your fault.

iCad

4th Jun 2012, 09:16 PM

Hey, just because I find it funny that it's bothering y'all doesn't mean I don't also like bugs. I dunno about the schadenfreude on iCad's part, though. She seems to be a lot nicer than me.

Well, I am nice, I'm afraid. Too nice, sometimes. *sigh*

It confuses me to no end that people are scared of "bugs" but not lobsters.

What baffles me is that some people who are afraid of "bugs" EAT lobsters and crabs and such. I tell them, "You DO realize you're eating a giant bug, right?" And they just shrug. I don't get it. And then what's REALLY baffling is that those same bug-hating-but-lobster-eating people will skeeve out over the idea of tarantulas being a delicacy in some areas of the world. I'm like, "What are you fussing about? YOU eat lobsters, for heaven's sake. Same creature, pretty much."

People are funny, yes. :lol:

I thought it was the size, but then people are scared of tarantulas too. Even when I was scared of bugs, I still thought tarantulas were cool. Wonder how people feel about this guy [snip]

ISOPOD!!!! :D

But, y'know, in the end, I think whiterider's right. Lobsters et. al. don't make a habit of invading what one thinks of as one's personal space, which the lobsters and their brethren don't have the capacity to do. That habit really seems to piss people off. I guess it just doesn't bother me. *shrugs* I get more upset when PEOPLE invade my personal space. :lol:

And I suck. I don't have a cool pic to post... Oh wait! Yes, I do! Speaking of tarantulas, have a purty one,the Indian Ornamental:

http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu261/icads_sims/PrF1.jpg

Pretty buggers. But fast, arboreal, and they bite hard and their venom hurts. I own one. (But that's not a pic of mine; I suck at photography.) She's still a juvenile, and she hasn't bitten me...yet. :lol:

Drakesecaravdis

5th Jun 2012, 06:38 AM

wth somebody hates me -.-
everytime I show an image with a beautiful butterfly and I come back to this thread it says that stupid "image is not available or does not exist"

paksetti

5th Jun 2012, 06:26 PM

try using eho.st -- I'm still totally using that one.

ButchSims

6th Jun 2012, 08:28 PM

That's the thing about nature. There is always something ready to sting you, bite you, or drip mucus on you. And Locus's may have a function, and be part of God's Glorious Creation, but that doesn't mean I want them in my house.

Interesting factoid: If human beings were to disapear from the planet, Scientists have predicted that cats are the most likely animal to evolve a higher conscienceness (or however you spell it) and take our place.

Johnny_Bravo

6th Jun 2012, 09:20 PM

iCad

6th Jun 2012, 10:14 PM

Something came up in my mind, and then I read something similiar here but I can't find anymore.
'nyways. We people. What is OUR function? We eat and fuck, like paksetti said about the insects. We're the enemy of (almost?) all other animals and insects on the world, we destroy the nature. We don't have any functions, do we? I can't call school, work and money something that's created by mother nature.

Naturalistically speaking, we are omnivorous apex predators. Rather like bears that way. We eat all kinds of other things, but aren't ourselves eaten, generally. That's why apex predators are generally expendable, ecologically speaking. Nothing depends on them/us for their own food (except some highly specialized parasites), so if they/we are gone, no biggie. Assuming, of course, that another species moves in to fulfill their/our role as population control, which is the genuine function of apex predators. (They generally have relatively low birth rates compared to other animals and so don't require as much in the way of population control themselves. That's, of course, by nature's "design.") So there's some irony: From an ecological point of view, we are as important as...disease. Go us. :lol:

Thing is, humans are intelligent and have found ways to remove ourselves from nature with things such as, say, wide-scale agriculture and modern medicine that ever-increasingly trumps disease, the thing that's supposed to kill us. So really, we no longer have much of a natural function, ecologically speaking. We've made ourselves rather impervious to nature and its checks and balances, thus throwing the whole planet's ecology rather out of whack in a way that, after tens of thousands of years of us throwing a monkey wrench (HAH!) into the works, is probably not "fixable" by conventional means.

So in short: We make our own purpose. We don't follow the rules. And that's really not a good thing.

Cats? Really? I'd've thought cetaceans, if not another ape...

ButchSims

6th Jun 2012, 10:45 PM

Well, I'm of the opinion that cats have already evolved, and will be the reason for our disapearance in the first place.....

But I think the reasoning behind that was that cats can basically function in most any environment and do very well for themselves. Or something.

paksetti

6th Jun 2012, 10:56 PM

Well, nothing is ever "finished" evolving, that is unless the species is gone. Even humans are still evolving.
Cats are adaptive, yeah, but you'd think some other ape would probably be closer to sentience, if that's the bar we're aiming for-- "human replacement". Rather than just "apex predator".

iCad

6th Jun 2012, 11:24 PM

Well, I'm of the opinion that cats have already evolved, and will be the reason for our disapearance in the first place.....

Shhh! Don't give the legion of cats living in my barn bright ideas! :lol: They're already a formidable army all by themselves, without any unnecessary delusions of grandeur. :)

But I think the reasoning behind that was that cats can basically function in most any environment and do very well for themselves. Or something.

True, but then, the apes are already more than halfway to consciousness in the human sense, so I'd think they'd get there before any cat would. And then there are the elephants, who are wickedly intelligent, have proven themselves self-aware (The only non-primate, non-cetacean to have done so), have a complex social structure (Something thought necessary, so I've read, for the development of so-called "higher thought"), and also have the capacity for creative thought. And then there are the cetaceans, also self-aware (At least dolphins are), and, although bound by having evolved to live in a non-terrestrial environment, ARE swimming around with some fairly large brains. :lol:

It'd be interesting to be a "fly on the wall" if humanity were ever to one day become extinct (A vastly unlikely thing, true, but anything's possible), and then see what happens...

ButchSims

6th Jun 2012, 11:44 PM

I can see it now. Aliens land on our planet to see nothing but a bunch of skeletons at the bottom of stairs, and some cat with an evil grin at the top....

iCad

6th Jun 2012, 11:54 PM

I can see it now. Aliens land on our planet to see nothing but a bunch of skeletons at the bottom of stairs, and some cat with an evil grin at the top....

:lol: No, not an evil grin! Just their standard, "Who me? I'm completely innocent. Butter wouldn't melt in my mouth" look when they've done something that they know damn well is wrong. :lol:

Cats are devious, yes, I'll give them that. And way, WAY smarter than dogs, at least, though I love both equally.

Drakesecaravdis

7th Jun 2012, 07:23 AM

Shhh! Don't give the legion of cats living in my barn bright ideas! :lol: They're already a formidable army all by themselves, without any unnecessary delusions of grandeur. :)

True, but then, the apes are already more than halfway to consciousness in the human sense, so I'd think they'd get there before any cat would. And then there are the elephants, who are wickedly intelligent, have proven themselves self-aware (The only non-primate, non-cetacean to have done so), have a complex social structure (Something thought necessary, so I've read, for the development of so-called "higher thought"), and also have the capacity for creative thought. And then there are the cetaceans, also self-aware (At least dolphins are), and, although bound by having evolved to live in a non-terrestrial environment, ARE swimming around with some fairly large brains. :lol:

It'd be interesting to be a "fly on the wall" if humanity were ever to one day become extinct (A vastly unlikely thing, true, but anything's possible), and then see what happens...

I think it's just dolphins which I find odd because dolphins are in the whale family so why wouldn't whales be self aware too?

and yeah unfortunately they are bound by the sea (which I find sad because I'd love to have a dolphin for a pet or at least play with one and just playing with one would be nearly impossible)

Johnny_Bravo

7th Jun 2012, 06:39 PM

Now I know why most cats are beeing nice to us. They will take over the world when we're not expecting it.

iCad

8th Jun 2012, 12:16 AM

I think it's just dolphins which I find odd because dolphins are in the whale family so why wouldn't whales be self aware too?

They very well might be. It's just hard to test them for it, given that they generally aren't kept in captivity due to their sheer size and feeding requirements. At least when you're talking about the baleen whales like the humpbacks, that is. Smaller toothed whales that are kept in captivity, like orcas and such, might have been shown to be self-aware; I just don't know, myself.

and yeah unfortunately they are bound by the sea (which I find sad because I'd love to have a dolphin for a pet or at least play with one and just playing with one would be nearly impossible)

It's an appealing idea, but don't be too fooled by their cuddly image. Intelligent animals do tend to have their dark, creepy side, just like humans, as intelligent animals, do. Like I said, chimps can be very creepy. (For instance, in the wild, small groups of male chimps will go off looking for lone chimps who aren't members of their own tribe and then kill them, apparently for fun.) Intelligent predatory animals also tend to play with their food a bit before finally killing it, a not-entirely-nice trait. Orcas are notorious for this, tossing a baby seal, for instance, back and forth between them before it eventually gets eaten. I don't know too much about dolphins, myself, but it wouldn't surprise me if they have their dark side somewhere, too, their happy, popular "Flipper" image aside.

That said, there ARE areas of the world where you can swim with "wild" dolphins. (I put that in quotes because, generally, they're ones who've been deliberately attracted to an area by people who run the local "swim with dolphins" business and who keep coming back because of all the food they get, and so they're ones who've become fairly domesticated and very used to humans, for all that they aren't kept captive. Still, I'd hardly call them "wild.") I've done it, and it's pretty cool. I've also done something similar with stingrays when I vacationed on Grand Cayman, getting to hold them (I LOVE their soft, smooth skin) and feed them and such. (In fact, I got the mother of all hickies from a big, probably 6-foot-long stingray, when it missed the food I was offering in my hand and latched on to my forearm instead. They suck hard! :) ) I've also swum with giant sea turtles when I half-lived on Barbados for a while. All awesome experiences. So, if you ever have an opportunity to do that sort of thing, I'd definitely recommend it. :)

BlakeS5678

8th Jun 2012, 12:52 AM

Now I know why most cats are beeing nice to us. They will take over the world when we're not expecting it.

Yes, An "I'll-be-nice-to-you-now-so-I-can-easily-dispose-of-you-as-a-potential-threat-later" scheme, I see.

(Gosh that was a lot of dashes)

paksetti

8th Jun 2012, 05:09 PM

It's an appealing idea, but don't be too fooled by their cuddly image. Intelligent animals do tend to have their dark, creepy side, just like humans, as intelligent animals, do. Like I said, chimps can be very creepy. (For instance, in the wild, small groups of male chimps will go off looking for lone chimps who aren't members of their own tribe and then kill them, apparently for fun.)

Chimps actually go to war (http://news.discovery.com/animals/chimp-war-behavior.html) over territory as well, it's bananas.

Dolphins may also be the only animals that kill for fun (http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/bizarre/news-bottle-nosed-dolphins-only-animal-kills-fun). They've also got a thing for raping porpoises, but that's not mentioned in that article. I think a lot of people like dolphins because they're usually friendly towards people and it always kind of looks like they're smiling. Man, I wish alligators were friendlier towards people, they've got cooler fake-smiles.

WildWitch

8th Jun 2012, 06:55 PM

The function of all beings is to live, THEY DO NOT REVOLVE AROUND HUMANS OR MAKING HUMAN LIVES EASIER. :)

Drakesecaravdis

9th Jun 2012, 02:57 PM

Chimps actually go to war (http://news.discovery.com/animals/chimp-war-behavior.html) over territory as well, it's bananas.

Dolphins may also be the only animals that kill for fun (http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/bizarre/news-bottle-nosed-dolphins-only-animal-kills-fun). They've also got a thing for raping porpoises, but that's not mentioned in that article. I think a lot of people like dolphins because they're usually friendly towards people and it always kind of looks like they're smiling. Man, I wish alligators were friendlier towards people, they've got cooler fake-smiles.

I've never heard of them killing for fun. I know people like to sugar coat things but I should know and that's the first piece that's ever mentioned that.
there could always be those bad apples because there always is in a species but this is the same animal that saves people a lot and they're not even domestic..I think it says a lot about an animal when one has saved a surfer's life who was playing with fire (I still think it was crazy that he went back in the water too after that dolphin saved him, how do you know the shark's not gonna win next time)

It's an appealing idea, but don't be too fooled by their cuddly image. Intelligent animals do tend to have their dark, creepy side, just like humans, as intelligent animals, do. Like I said, chimps can be very creepy. (For instance, in the wild, small groups of male chimps will go off looking for lone chimps who aren't members of their own tribe and then kill them, apparently for fun.) Intelligent predatory animals also tend to play with their food a bit before finally killing it, a not-entirely-nice trait. Orcas are notorious for this, tossing a baby seal, for instance, back and forth between them before it eventually gets eaten. I don't know too much about dolphins, myself, but it wouldn't surprise me if they have their dark side somewhere, too, their happy, popular "Flipper" image aside.
well guys can be much creepier and downright jerky but I'm still boy crazy. I just make sure to stay away from the bad apples and as far as the ones who aren't, I wouldn't like a perfect guy so I don't expect dolphins to be either. personally I'm not big on chimps...I guess partly because they look too much like us which I find creepy.
and Rocky is the cutest thing ever but I don't tolerate when he's being shitty so I'm not going to let a dolphin push me around either.

That said, there ARE areas of the world where you can swim with "wild" dolphins. (I put that in quotes because, generally, they're ones who've been deliberately attracted to an area by people who run the local "swim with dolphins" business and who keep coming back because of all the food they get, and so they're ones who've become fairly domesticated and very used to humans, for all that they aren't kept captive. Still, I'd hardly call them "wild.") I've done it, and it's pretty cool. I've also done something similar with stingrays when I vacationed on Grand Cayman, getting to hold them (I LOVE their soft, smooth skin) and feed them and such. (In fact, I got the mother of all hickies from a big, probably 6-foot-long stingray, when it missed the food I was offering in my hand and latched on to my forearm instead. They suck hard! :) ) I've also swum with giant sea turtles when I half-lived on Barbados for a while. All awesome experiences. So, if you ever have an opportunity to do that sort of thing, I'd definitely recommend it. :)
Im sure there is but I'd imagine it's far away..I'm financially deficit so I'll be lucky if I get a vacation at all this year