WHAT DOES AN INSECT’S BODY LOOK LIKE?

• An insect’s body is the opposite of a human’s. We have a skeleton inside; insects have a hard skeleton, like a tube or sheath, on the outside.

• The human heart pumps blood through your arteries and veins to your organs. An insect’s blood (called haemolymph) doesn’t flow in arteries or veins – it simply flows around their organs and tissues. The insect has a muscular tube in its abdomen that contracts to pump blood from one side of its body to the other.

• Instead of having a brain inside its head, an insect has nerve bundles called ganglia spread throughout its body. These bundles function independently and control different body parts.

• Most insects use their feelers to “smell”, but flies use the soles of their feet!

• Insects don’t have ears, but they do have hearing organs. These organs are sometimes located in strange places: on the sides of the abdomen in moths, for example, on the forelegs of crickets, and on the feet of toktokkies.