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!!