I knew that possums, for instance, can feign death.
But butterflies and walking sticks?
Who knew?
Formally, these walking stick bugs are called: Phasmids.
I remember being at my parent’s house, on break during college, and finding huge walking sticks and praying mantises on our back porch.
I would often run before dark and then sit out back with my mom and watch the sunset.
And if you know much about life outside of town, dusk is when all the animals start to come out.
What a sweet time that was.
One entomologist says that walking sticks, along with monarch butterflies, are able to feign death—although I don’t know how you could determine if a walking stick was feigning death or twigginess.
-Annie Dillard, Pilgrim At Tinker Creek