Being A Cold Bug

Ander- Red
Mary Katherine- Blue 


Being a cold bug sounds miserable. I absolutely hate being cold. If I had to choose which life stage to overwinter in I would pick to overwinter as an adult butterfly. It is hard for butterflies to survive waters because their temperatures drop to the temperature of their surrounding. Although, I would hibernate in a tree hole where it blocks the cold wind chills and rain. I would try to find an old tree that had a hole in it that I could fly high up in. I would not want to want the tree to because I would need it to be strong and sturdy and not have any chances of falling over in storms. It would stay dry in the tree and no snow or rain would be able to creep in, at least at the top of the hole. Another strategy I would use is I would use my natural antifreeze to secrete my body so I would have some sort of protection against the harsh winters. The antifreezes are all natural and come from small molecules like glycerol. This helps prevent me from crystallizing and dying. This also helps me survive the lowest temperatures that come my way. I cannot wait till the spring to come out of hibernation  because I will be one of the first insects to come out of hibernation because of how I hibernate. I will be able to come out during the warmer weather of the spring. It is truly amazing how we, butterflies, hibernate and how we can survive freezing winters. If we did not have the antifreeze characteristic we would not be able to survive the winter. Most people do not know this fun fact about us and never have really thought about our survival strategies. 

Sources: 
http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/nmnh/buginfo/winter.htm
http://www.naturemuseum.org/the-museum/blog/where-do-butterflies-go-in-the-winter

I am a cold bug, but what bug am I? 
I am small...red...and an insect...but what am I?...To be continued
There are many different life stages of insects that overwinter, and multiples of different strategies insects use to survive. Insects very unique in the way that they are able to avoid freezing during the winter. If I was an insect during the Winter time and I was faced with the predicament of finding a strategy to help me survive the cold I would choose to a fallen tree bark or a firewood. An example of this are lady bugs. This particular insect chooses to overwinter under tree bark or a firewood because this creates a protective environment for the insect. Ladybugs also overwinter in herds, which is something that was very interesting to me. The life stage that I would choose is as an adult. As an adult the ladybugs are together in herds when they overwinter, which is something that I liked. 
It is amazing learning the unique ways that insects adapt to their environment in order to survive. I do not think that if I were put in a similar situation as insects that I would find a way to survive in the cold conditions.   

Sources:
http://www.hmrprint.com/helensphotos/LADYBUGS.html
(Source:http://web.extension.illinois.edu/cfiv/homeowners/071213.html)