Citizen Kane Beetle

In comparison to Australia, I had thought that France would pose a lot less threat when it came to bugs and bitey things.

Today, while sitting outside having lunch, Sam noticed a little mole hill was moving. I've never seen a mole in real life, so slowly crept up on it - until at the very last second, I jumped on top of it and started digging like mad. It was long gone of course. No doubt having felt the vibrations of my, however softly taken, footsteps.


I had already known that moles have very poor eyesight, but later discovered another cool fact - that they have a toxin that paralyses their prey (mainly being earthworms). And quite gruesomely, they are able to store their still living prey for later consumption, keeping them in underground 'larders'. Apparently, researchers have discovered such larders with over a thousand earthworms in them. Even more amazing, especially since they seem like such gentle creatures, the Star-nosed Mole can detect, catch and eat food in under 300 milliseconds - faster than the human eye can follow!

As far as I know, moles can't hurt you. But what have concerned me somewhat are screw worms. Before arriving in France, I had never heard of screw worms, but have now, thanks to Sam, become paranoid that I mustn't go anywhere barefoot as it will most likely lead to death. Unsure about the validity of this information, I once googled it and found this reassuring passage in a medical report entitled The turn of the screw worm:

The maggots of Chrysomya bezziana can infest any part of the body if there is a wound, but most often infest mucous tissues and other places where the skin is soft, such as the genitals, the nose, mouth, ears and eyes. In 1883, a Dr Richardson reported a case of human infestation by Cochliomyia hominivorax in the Medical Monthly of Peoria, Illinois. A traveller in Kansas was sleeping when a fly laid its eggs in his nose. The fly was probably attracted by a discharge of mucus. The first symptoms were those of a severe cold. As the maggots cut away through the tissues of the head, the patient became slightly delirious and complained about the intense misery and annoyance in his nose and head. The maggots finally cut through the soft palate, impairing his speech, and then invaded the eustachian tubes. Despite the removal of more than 250 maggots, the patient eventually died.

Right... On second thought, perhaps I will keep my thongs on.

So with a newly found interest/renewed paranoia of insects, off we went to la Cité des Insectes. In the middle of nowhere (which I'm starting to realise is where everything is), we were at first surprised that we weren't the only visitors, and secondly that it was even open at all. Nothing ever seems to be open in France. Some shops are open for lunch and dinner only, while others aren't open at lunch and most shops are closed on Mondays. However, they keep their own times anyhow and are pretty much always shut when we think they should be open. This has resulted in us only having been to the supermarket. Oh and the ice-cream shop.

But back to the City of Insects...

This was pretty much the only insect we saw in the cultivated garden. (Apart from the dragonfly which kamakazeed into Sam's head.)

And we didn't see any at all in the wild garden. (Most likely to do with the cool Autumnal weather.)

But we did see stacks of weird looking insects in the inside area. Though my mum did walk past all the exhibits louding exclaiming how lame it all was because they were all empty. (They weren't. She's just an idiot.)


There was a huge cricket whose insides would light up when you pressed different buttons. For instance the button labelled yeux lit up the eyes, which is a cool because yeux mean eyes in French.

Then there were these old-school bug spraying devices.

And then stacks of weird and wonderful looking insects stuck to boards as well as tiny amputated limbs to scrutinize under the microscopes.

Finally the tour ended in a tacky souvenir shop, which, of course, is where we spent the most time of all. (It was the coolest!)

But I did actually see an ant graveyard which was creepy. I found out that when you see ants carrying around dead ants, they are actually taking them to their graveyard which is a little dead-end tunnel in their ant hill, piled high with dead bodies. (And I always thought they were eating them.) I learnt that granivorous means feeding on grain or seed. (Which isn't half as funny as the obvious, animals that feed on grannies.) And found out that Lyme disease isn't that uncommon here thanks to ticks not being uncommon here since we are in Limousin, the famous beef region. The symptoms of which are only marginally less horrific than death by screw worm, as it leads to hospitalisation and possible death, but if caught in time will only lead to long-term muscular pain, possible paralysis and cardiac weakness.

And people think Australia is a dangerous place!

Geez, I'm starting to feel itchy. Are you feeling itchy? What's this red mark on my side??

(Oh, and g'day to those who came here via the url I wrote in the vistor book at la Cité des Insectes. Great place!)

J'habite en France. I live in France. "H"'s are silent in French. So french words like hôpital and hôtel look similar to our English counterparts, but are pronounced without the "h". Might come in 'andy!