Glowworms

" I wish I was a glowworm, a glowworm is never glum. 'Cos how can you be grumpy when the Sunshine's from your bum"

Larson Burrows (1910-1994) was a local explorer who re-discovered the te-ana-au glowworm cave in 1948. Glowworms can reach up to 3 cm in length and have a life expectancy of about 11 months with different stages of life. The glowworm life starts as an egg and takes about 3 weeks to hatch. The eggs are clumped together by mucus like filaments, these eggs are small and dense. Once hatched they are small larva. The larva stage is where the glowworms builds a nest and begins to try to catch food by releasing lines down that reach anywhere from 1/2-7 inches long and up to 70 lines can be dropped from the nest. These lines are known as "fishing lines." The contain a paralyzing agent which kills the insect that fly into the lines. The insect is attracted to the bio luminescence of the glowworm. Then the glowworm pulls the line up in which the insect was caught on. Once the glowworm has enough energy it suspends itself on a long thread in its pupa stage. This lasts about 12 to 13 days to become the adult fly. to release itself from the cocoon like structure, the adult fly expands and contracts its body until the cocoon breaks open. The adult fly is only alive long enough to reproduce and for female lay eggs. The female usually dies after laying the eggs, males on the other hand can live up to 5 days. This is short because the adult fly in both male and female have no mouths nor do they have stomachs. The soul purpose it so reproduce. This overall life cycle of the glowworm. Interesting facts, the more hungry the glowworm is the brighter its bio luminescence is. Glowworms live in caves because it has low temperature and humidity fluctuations, glowworms are also found in dense forest floors where the living conditions are met.

** No pictures were allowed in the cave, this was taken from google image**

I actually posted this blog the night that we went, but when i went on here I noticed my blog wasnt on here but that I created my own blog about glowworms! haha WOOPS!