FUN FACTS!

Craving to know more about ladybugs?? Well here you go!

• As ladybugs get older, their spots start to fade

• When a ladybug is flying, it beats its wings 85 times PER SECOND! WOW!

• Ladybugs breathe from openings at the sides of their bodies

• In 1999, NASA sent ladybugs into space to see how they would react to gravity!

• A ladybug can retract its head inside its body

• The ladybug is the official insect of at least five U.S states

Here are some links to fun and cool activities you can do with your classmates and friends to learn more about ladybugs!

Ladybug Math Mats

Ladybug Magnets

The Ladybug Game

Also, if you love to read, check out this amazing book by Eric Carle called The Grouchy Ladybug!

When is a good time to find ladybugs?

A lot of people absolutely LOVE ladybugs because they are harmless to humans and really pretty. However, there are only certain times during the year that you can find these ladybugs in abundance. Ladybugs love warm toasty weather, so they can be found from early spring to the late fall. When the cold weather comes, ladybugs search frantically for a warm place to hibernate...just like animals do! 




These hibernating places are usually in rotting logs, underneath rocks, or even in your own house! These hibernating places can contain over a thousand ladybugs at once! That wouldn't be very fun sight when you walk into your room at night...

Print some of these out and color them to show Mom and Dad!!

Why do ladybugs have spots?

Some people may think that ladybugs have their spots just for appearance and to look pretty to people. Well, they're kind of right! Ladybugs have their spots to appear unappealing to predators. They want to tell predators "Ew, I taste horrible! You don't want to eat me!!" They want to send this message so that they won't get eaten! Ladybugs also use the technique of playing dead so that their predators will just pass on by and not mess with him. How cool! A ladybug's main predators are frogs, wasps, spiders and dragonflies. Also, ladybugs are known to give off a fluid that smells really bad from their legs to send predators away. 

All these things the ladybugs do are ways to protect themselves from harm, just like humans protect themselves from bad things!

Click here to help the ladybug escape the harmful predators!!

What kinds of ladybugs are there?!

There are over 5,000 different species of ladybugs out there! They come in many different sizes and shapes. The most familiar one to us would be the lady beetles or seven-spotted ladybugs found in North America with very shiny red bodies with black spots.




Another popular kind of lady bug is called the Convergent Ladybug. These ladybugs are orange! Can you believe it?! Convergent Ladybugs are very similar to the seven-spotted ladybugs because they are oval, they have black spots, and they eat aphids. The only differences really are that Convergent Ladybugs are orange and they are found mostly in pacific coastal states near the beach!

The C-Mac ladybugs are also popular too! These ladybugs are pink with black spots (how cute!!). These kind of ladybugs are said to be very fast and very good at keeping away those pesky plant-eating insects!








Click here to play a super fun ladybug maze!

How does a ladybug grow??

Ladybugs have a cycle of development, just like any other insect or animal would! Like most insects, ladybugs start out in eggs. Ladybugs lay hundreds and hundreds of near colonies of aphids (remember...those are the plant-eating insects that ladybugs LOVE to much on!). When the newborn ladybugs hatch in a few days, they have a new name which is larvae. These new larvae instantly being feeding on the aphids because they are really hungry! They grow very quickly and shed their skin a lot! After this stage, the ladybug larvae attaches to a plant and becomes a pupa. Shortly after the pupa stage, the ladybugs become adults! When they reach this stage, they start laying tons of eggs! Ladybugs can lay up to 2,000 eggs in a lifetime! Ladybugs only live a short life-maybe about three to six weeks. By the end of their short life, they will have eaten around 5,000 aphids! Wow!


This video has TONS of interesting facts about how ladybugs grow!


As we all know, ladybugs have an oval-like shape with six very short legs! They also have two antennae and wings so that they can fly around! This is what an adult ladybug looks like! ---->

What is a ladybug?

Ladybugs are very tiny insects that come from a family of beetles! In Europe, they are known as ladybird beetles! Most people like ladybugs because they are very pleasing to the eye and they are harmless. Also, farmers LOVE ladybugs! Why? Because these tiny insects have a favorite snack that is helpful to farmers, which are plant-eating insects called aphids. A farmer's worst nightmare is having their plants eaten and killed! So having ladybugs munch on aphids that are killing the farmer's plants is awesome!

Sooo...where did the name ladybug come from?? Well, it came from two European farmers who prayed to Mary because pests kept eating their crops! When the ladybugs came and wiped out all of the plant-eating insects, the farmers named this amazing little bug "The bug of our lady" which shortened to ladybug!

 Click here to find out more about ladybugs!