“To survive”
20 December 2009
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From the 4th till the 20th of December a wonderful exhibition “To survive” in the world of invertebrates was held at Exotarium. It was devoted to an unusual theme – the ways of protection of invertebrates. Nature generously awarded these creatures with different adaptation for protection, because it is not so simple to live in wild nature, everyone around you wants to eat you up! You can hope only for yourself. For this in the micro-world different defensive mechanisms are used: to hide oneself, to run away from danger or to frighten the enemy – every animal makes this choice by itself every second of its life. 
The record-holders in this hide-and-seek game are for sure stick insects – these amazing animals absolutely exactly imitate by their colouration and shape a branch. Leaf-like grasshoppers can also camouflage in a good way – it is practically impossible to notice them among green foliage. Undoubtedly, the record in the speed of reaction belongs to the American domestic cockroach, this animal can easily run away from you with the speed 1,4 meters in a second, i.e. it can during 1 second run the distance which is nearly 50 times more than the size of its body! And the butterfly-owl when meeting an enemy folds its beautiful sky-blue wings and demonstrates the pattern of the underside of its wings which resembles eyes of an owl. A rare predator can tolerate this “stare”.