I was reminded of this today when I saw an article posted explaining that corn worms have evolved to be able to eat the genetically modified corn designed to kill them. I was honestly elated at this news as it goes to show that us as humans are extremely foolish to think that we can fool nature with science. Well, insects have much shorter generations than humans, thus evolve at a much quicker rate than we do and it sure didn't take more than barely ten years for these corn worms to evolve past robo-corn. That is some tough shit.
I remember hearing one time that there were termites discovered that eat fiberglass insulation. Ouch. Sometimes I feel that way after eating something too spicy. Whether this is true or not, someday I'm sure termites will evolve to be able to do so. And we all know that cockroaches survive nuclear bombs long after we have been vaporized. Incredible little creatures these bugs! Six legs and wings! Lucky!
I truly believe that insects will evolve to eat everything from Styrofoam and plastic bags to concrete after humans are decimated. And who can possibly imagine what other toxic remains we leave behind that these critters will evolve to feast on, turning it all back into perfect nature in the form of insect poo. I love to think about billions upon billions of tiny bugs fixing all the damage that we have caused as a species, one bite of fiberglass at a time.
The reptiles had their day, well more like their eons of years, reigning supreme in the form of dinosaurs. Mammals currently hold the top spot on the food chain, and have for a few millennium now. But the common thread intertwined throughout the history of life on Earth is the presence and necessity of insects to clean up messes. A bit easier for them when it was something actually organic; a dead dinosaur, a fallen tree. It will be quite the sight when empty skeletons of skyscrapers come crumbling down because thousands of generations of concrete eating insects have had their way with it.
We generally think of insects and their presence in something as dirty, gross, infested. The world would be a much filthier place without them; they already clean up so much. Little do we know that they are waiting in the wings(not to be punny)for us to die off so they can eat our flesh and then our civilization. I'm sure they will be helped greatly by various fungi and bacteria that also evolves to decompose the pestilential leftovers of human existence. And the circle of life will be complete
I crack up at the thought of us "all powerful" humans thinking that we are so much more than a stupid bug. Insects have capabilities to withstand extreme temperatures, as well as far harsher environments than us weakling humans. They reproduce extremely efficiently leaving literally thousands of their offspring in their wake. Insects outnumber us, they eat us, they kill us, they eat our houses, our food(which they also pollinate), our trash, they keep our soil healthy, they rapidly evolve to outsmart us, and we must accept that they are going to survive long after we are gone.
Congratulations you sneaky bugs, you have proven throughout billions of years that it doesn't matter what goes on, you'll continue to survive and proliferate life on Earth. I hope you
enjoy the taste of plastic. Thanks for cleaning up the shit.
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