Roly-Poly (139/365)

 
“The way a child discovers the world constantly replicates the way science began. You start to notice what's around you, and you get very curious about how things work. How things interrelate. It's as simple as seeing a bug that intrigues you. You want to know where it goes at night; who its friends are; what it eats.”

David Cronenberg (Canadian filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional actor, aka “the King of Venereal Horror or the Baron of blood” b1943)

TIME:  7:04 PM
PLACE:  Front porch
SUBJECT:   Armadillidiidae

StellaDella loves finding roly-poly bugs under the pavers that line the front flower beds.  These are two of the three she placed into an old bowl to observe.  She called them the “Papa Roly Poly” (the large one pictured here), the “Mama Roly Poly” (a medium one, not pictured) and the “Baby Roly Poly” (the small one pictured here).  She had many questions, so we did some searching on the internet to find the answers.  Now that we found out information about them, she wants to bring them to school tomorrow because, as she says,

“I am an expert on roly poly bugs Mom.  I want to teach my class all about them.  See, “exo” means outside, so, their bones are outside, (she grabs her forearm for emphasis) they have exoskeletons, see?; they are, what did you call them?…’crustaceans’…that means their cousins are lobsters, crabs and what’s that other thing?  Oh yeah, shrimp.  Did you know that they all live as a family under rocks.  They eat plants and decayed animals.  ‘Decayed’ means dead.  So that means they are…not herbivores, those guys only eat plants.  What is that other one?…not carnivorous…(I tell her the word is ‘omnivorous’) Right, omnivorous.  See, Mom, I know a lot about roly-polys now.” 

Yes StellaDella, you do, you are one smart cookie.