Natural world
Many arthropods have complex life cycles and grow a completely new kind of body at different stages of their lives, from the egg to the adult. This process of change is called ‘metamorphosis’. Visit the Nursery in the Bug House to see the dramatic changes of young arthropods, such as caterpillars, grubs and maggots, into pupa and finally into winged adults, such as butterflies, beetles and bugs.
Every one of the thousands of species of arthropods face different challenges in order to eat, sleep, find shelter, or even just move around in difficult conditions. Over time they have each developed the perfect tools to stay alive in their environment.
Grasshopper at dining table
The survival and persistence of arthropods and their astonishing capacity for filling every nook and cranny in the world is due largely to their incredibly varied diets. Arthropods eat a huge range of different foods, so each species has developed the ideal mouthparts to enable them to cope with their particular diet. Their mouthparts resemble some of the tools used by humans, eg a mosquito's mouth is like a syringe, piercing skin to reach the blood supply. A butterfly has a mouth part like a straw, allowing them to dip deep into a flower to reach nectar.