We seem to love to be horrible to insects; squashing them, drowning them, and spraying them with poison are just a few examples. But in this article, I will explain why we need to be kinder to them.
Insects help the environment
Tell me any much-hated insect, and I could tell you how they are important to the ecosystem. Flies? They help food biodegrade, and I have also seen them pollinating flowers. Wasps? Wasps eat 'pest' insects (because a pest is only a pest when the ecosystem is out of balance). Mosquitoes? Mosquitoes are very good pollinators, and few species are actually dangerous to humans. It's only the females that bite, and they need the blood for their babies. Moths? Again, good pollinators. Ants? They aerate the soil, add organic matter to soil, help disperse seeds and eat ticks. Aphids? Aphids secrete honeydew which is eaten by ants, butterflies and even us! Cockroaches? Like flies they help break down food. Slugs are not insects, but I thought I'd add that they help make compost, and feed hedgehogs and frogs; few actually damage plants.
And lets not forget all the mammals, birds and other insects that hunt insects, of which there are too many for me to list.
You see, despite a certain species being annoying to us; they all are here for very important reasons; otherwise they wouldn't exist.
We need each and every one of them for our survival.
Insects are much more intelligent than you might imagine
You may think of insects as being stupid, non-sentient creatures, but recent studies are showing that they are much smarter than what is commonly imagined. Here are some examples:
Paper wasps have been found to recognise the faces of other paper wasps.
Bees perform a complex "waggle dance" to tell other workers where to find nectar.
Honeybees can count.
They can also recognise faces using configured processing, the same way we humans do.
Ants farm aphids for their honeydew (mentioned above). They will take the aphids to new plants, protect them from predators such as wasps, look after their eggs, and remove their wings so they can't fly away.
Some species of ants farm fungi for their food.
Oxford University neuroscientists have found that fruit flies take longer to make more difficult decisions, and have a surprising mental capacity.
Fruit flies are affected by alcohol in the same way humans are, and some can become addicted to it!
I have read about several examples of people trying to get rid of fruit flies and them seeming to wise up to the methods.
Do insects feel pain? Our brain makes us feel pain in order to protect ourselves - to tell us that something is not right with our body. Pain is a pretty crucial aspect of our bodies and lives. Some people suffer from a congenital insensitivity to pain, which means they cannot feel any pain. These people often get into pretty bad situations because they will injure themselves many times without knowing.
Because of this, I think it would be pretty strange if insects didn't feel pain.
And isn't it better to give them the benefit of the doubt?
Some tips on how to deal with them
If you see 'pest' insects on your garden plants, please resist the urge to remove them. It is very likely that they will not end up harming the plant. If you remove the 'pest', you eliminate food for the predator, meaning you will have to keep removing the so-called pest. Leaving them to their own devices means they can stay in the beautiful cycle of life, and it will save you some effort too!
Shooing wasps away from you or swiping at them with your hands means you are more likely to get stung - they believe that you are attacking them and will sting as self-defence. When a wasp approaches me, I just stay still until they fly away and I have never been stung by a wasp in my entire life (one even went in my ear once!).
Hopefully by taking this approach we can coexist more peacefully with wasps.
No matter what you do, you will never consistently keep flies out of your house When you have flies in your house, you can keep them off your food by keeping it covered. Keeping flies in your house is actually good for you because they encourage you to cover your food up, meaning you won't get micro plastics drifting onto it.
With some care, its very possible to live with insects without hurting them. And I believe it's what we should do.
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