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There are early signs that fewer lesser kestrels (above) and Amur falcons are visiting South Africa this year. (Photo by: Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Insect decline threatens migratory bird

There are early signs that fewer lesser kestrels and Amur falcons are visiting South Africa this year

In 2022, research by the University of Liverpool on the response of ants to climate change provided new insights into the effects of climate change on ant populations. (Photo by Creative Touch Imaging Ltd./NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Tiny ants are big indicators of climate change

How climate change affects ant populations and the wider effects this will have on the ecosystem is not well understood This content is restricted to registered users and…

Dim it: Most people around the world live under light-polluted night skies in urban areas. But rural areas are being affected too, such as gas and oil producing areas in the United States. (Bettymaya Foott)

Cities need to embrace dark night skies

Brightness harms people’s and other creatures’ health, disrupts ecosystems and changes climate

Professor Robin Crewe

Lifetime Award for achievement by an individual

Leader and ‘complete bee person’

Mail & Gaurdian

Editorial: Our moment of reckoning is now

‘At the M&G we have committed to redoubling efforts to ensure we offer even greater prominence to the threat of climate change’

The pulling out of one thread of life makes another one vulnerable, with the tapestry of life meanwhile losing its value. In short, we are increasing life’s vulnerability, while reducing its resilience. (Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters)

We’re causing an insect apocalypse

About 45% of insect species will become extinct in a few decades because they can’t evolve rapidly enough in a world changed by human activities

An invasive alien species from Asia, the borer burrows deep into trees to create a nest for its eggs (Graphic: John McCann)

Tiny beetles cause a giant crisis

Trees in our cities are under serious threat from an invasive species of borer shooting across the country

Insects are constantly adapting to methods used to control them.

Why African farmers should balance pesticides with other control methods

Farmers needs a way to manage harmful insects without destroying the ecological balance

Research shows that these dragonflies fly 7 000km in a single journey.

Sex-crazed dragonfly on ‘suicide mission’

The tiny Pantala flavescens dragonfly embarks on intercontinental flights – sometimes catching a ride on a cyclone – just to find a mate.

Strategies that protect insects must be followed because of the important role they play in our daily lives such as the pollination of crops

Bugged by insects’ many names

Insects have different names not only in each of our 11 official languages, but within each of those languages depending on geographical location.

World’s biggest fly farm coming to Cape Town

Apart from its scenic tourist attractions, the Mother City will soon boast a massive commercial fly farm with 8.5-billion insects.

Waiter, open up a can of worms

They’re the ­answer to the world’s food woes, but can we stomach them? James Francis admits eating insects does not fly in the face of reason.

How to grow your own grasshoppers

United States-based designer Mansour Ourasanah, who grew up in West Africa, has come up with a very different kitchen appliance to help with dinner.

Researchers have found dung beetles use their dung balls to cool off in the heat.
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Dung beetles rolling to be cool

Researchers say dung beetles climb onto their dung balls to cool their feet in the midday sun.

Yebo gogga!

Spiders, snakes and other beings that fly or bite or crawl will be on show at Wits’s annual exhibition of bugs, plants and animals.

Dinosaurs of insect world discovered

Dinosaurs of insect world discovered

The bugs, preserved in amber, tell tales of forest conditions in India before it crashed into Asia

Insects could be the key to meeting food needs

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation is taking seriously the farming of creepy-crawlies as nutritious food.

Cockroaches hitch ride into US with troops

While they have been fighting wars in Asia and the Middle East, it seems that United States troops have allowed a counter-invasion of their country.