An insect, found lying on the floor outside this hotel in Kerala, invited my attention when I was just just about to step over it : ) I observed it for some moments.. each time I turned it upright, it turned itself upside down as if it had jumbled definitions of sky and earth … :P I picked it up and placed it on a Tata Indica :) to get some good pictures of it before it was dead :P
Minutes later did it strike to me that insects turn upside down when they are about to die… Felt sorry for the little creature… it was breathing its last air..
Googled about why do they die turning upside down.. this is what I got through Yahoo! Answers…
“often we come across dead insects in buildings, that have died of insecticide. Most of these insecticides are organophosphate nerve poisons. The nerve poison often inhibits cholinesterase, an enzyme that breaks down acetyl choline (ACh), a neurotransmitter. With extra ACh in the nervous system, the insect has muscular spasms which often result in the insect flipping on its back. Without muscular coordination it cannot right itself and eventually dies in its upside down-position”
PS: Click on the pic to see the detailed/enlarged view... Thanks to Sony Cybershot...
Goodnight/day!
