Announcing the next big thing – the woodlouse!
Yes, you heard it here first! The next big thing… the thing that all of your kids will want and that will stare back at you wherever you go is the woodlouse. Not sure what a woodlouse is?
Yes, these adorable little bugs will soon be gracing you with their presence. Why just now I suspect the folks at Pixar are huddling together to figure out how to best create a new animated movie featuring said woodlouse. How do I know this? I have been paying attention to the “signs” out there. Lately I have been noticing a spike in sales of my woodlouse pictures on Shutterstock. Clearly they must know something I don’t?! The final straw was the recent genius of Ikea to release a plush woodlouse for children. Why else would a multi-billion dollar company take this risk, other than the fact that they have done painstaking research to determine that the woodlouse is indeed the next big thing?
Many of you are probably familiar with the woodlouse by a different name. Like most bugs, it has different names depending on where you are from. Common names for the woodlouse include “sowbug”, “pill bug”, “potato bug”, and “roly-poly” according to Wikipedia. Actually, pill bug usually refers to the kinds that roll up into a ball when threatened. They don’t quite have the rough scales at the edges that the one above has. The following is a picture of a pill bug. Pay attention, because pretty soon your children will expect you to know this.
The cute thing about pill bugs is how they roll up into a ball when threatened.
Pill bugs and woodlice are very easy to find. Just pick up any piece of wood in your backyard and there is a very high chance you will find at least one. As far as I know, they are present in most areas of the US. I remember seeing them often back east and here, in the Pacific Northwest, they are also very common. I’m sure there are specific species only found in certain places, but as far as I see there are just the two kinds. According to Wikipedia there are 3,000 species of them, so chances are I’m wrong.
The following cuddly picture presents the woodlouse up close – I can just imagine the Pixar animators working on this right now….
A particularly cute trait of the woodlouse is the way they molt their skin. Please advise all children though, that only woodlice and other crustaceans molt – not humans (so don’t try this on your brother…)
Like I said, you heard it here first! If I were you, I’d run down to your local Ikea right now to get your kid’s first woodlouse before the supply is gone. After all, remember what happened to the beanie babies? Don’t be the parent searching long and hard for impossible to find toys, get a head start now before the big rush!
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Tags: insect, photography, woodlouse
You make them look like very large toys! Although, I don’t think I have seen any woodlouse in the IKEA magazine.
It was indeed genious of IKEA. I have 7 of the furry woodlice from there. they are so cute. i couldnt believe it when i spotted plush woodlouse toys! You can find pictures of mine if you do a web search for “Lionelpuff” .
umm well hey there cute but what happend if there
in a house full of wood?
I love all insects, but woodlice aren’t actually insects, they’re members of the same family as crabs. But they’re still very cute, and I still love them.
I already owe one here in the Philippines i got five of them but haven’t seen them crawl yet. and they’re not insect cos they’re more related to lobsters and crabs. thank you for the wonderful pictures.