Recycled Art: The watercolor base was from a doodle played with a while back. Pulling it out yesterday in my art -and-meditation time, the florals needed some tampering again. The bougainvillea flowers received more structure and the drying leaves more browns.
Yellow-banded Migrating Millipedes populate my school’s garden grounds in the early school year. Children and adults watch their migration from the rotting leaves made so soft by the summer rain…a yummy treat for these many-footed creatures.
For years, we referred to them as “centipedes” and no one at the school knew better until I chose to make a study of them for my 1st Graders. As a naturalist, it was time to dispel the wrong nomenclature:
Millipedes they are….millipedes have anywhere from 80-400 legs. (I disagree with the term ‘legs’…looking at numerous videos…I think they are only ‘feet’…no legs…) They march their feet to walk in straight lines unless they have to turn. Centipedes tend to ‘snake’ more by going side-to-side.
Millipedes are the FIRST LAND ANIMALS….wow…that’s a fun fact I never knew… before the dinosaurs…some adventurous millipede came out of the primeval waters to stay dry forever…amazing…I have found a fossil image of that very truth.
When afraid, they turn into a tight spiral. This is very pretty image for my 1st graders. We are learning about shapes and lines and the millipede help me teach the kiddies where they can verify the information by going outside the classroom.
And finally, the bougainvillea plant blooms flowers but what we see as colorful flowers are really the leaves. The actual flowers are usually inside and are an off-white to cream color. The pretty oranges, purples, reds and other marvelous colors are leaf petals…not flower petals. Don’t ask me how that is…I haven’t done that study yet…but now that you mention it…maybe that’ll come down in a few shares.
Do not touch the millipedes. They don’t like it. And if you bring them indoors…do not let them sleep with you. They leave a toxic mark on skin if they lay on you at night. No…millipedes love their rotted leaves and do us all a favor of eating away the garden garbage.