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🦁 Animal world 🐞 Insects and minibeasts

Ladybug

Ladybug

πŸ“– In short

The ladybug is a small round beetle like half a pea, usually bright red or yellow with black spots. Children and farmers both love it, because it's pretty and very useful for plants.

🀩 Did you know?

  • In the late 1800s, ladybugs saved California's orange groves from a harmful insect.
  • The number of spots on a ladybug's back doesn't show its age, but its kind.
  • In winter ladybugs gather in sheltered places to sleep together.
  • There are thousands of kinds of ladybugs in different colors.

πŸ”Ž Find out more

🌟 The farmer's friend

Ladybugs eat little insects called aphids, which suck plant juices and harm them. One ladybug can eat thousands of insects in its life, protecting gardens and orchards.

πŸ” Colors that say: watch out!

A ladybug's bright colors are a message to birds: β€œI taste bad!” And when it's scared, a ladybug squeezes a smelly yellow liquid out of its legs.

πŸ’‘ Hidden wings

Under the red spotted case are two thin folded wings. When a ladybug wants to fly, it lifts its case and spreads its wings.

🎯 From larva to ladybug

A ladybug lays tiny yellow eggs on leaves, and out come spiky black larvae that eat aphids too, then become pupae, then adult ladybugs.

πŸ“Έ More pictures

Ladybug
Ladybug
Ladybug

🧩 Test yourself

1 What does a ladybug eat?

2 What do a ladybug's bright colors tell birds?

3 Which picture shows β€œLadybug”?

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πŸ“· Picture sources: Wikimedia Commons