Weta Write a Post

Sarah asked that I do a post on the weta. I've done one before, but this beast requires more attention. Sarah made this post easy. Her email was so discriptive, I'm just going to cut and paste...

The weta is ... "a wonderfully unattractive relative of crickets and grasshoppers from New Zealand in the South Pacific. Its full name in the native language, Maori, is Wetapunga, which means 'the god of ugly things.' Its Latin name means 'demon grasshopper.' The New Zealand visual effects and creature construction company which created monsters for the Hercules and Xena TV series, not to mention the Lord of the Rings movies and King Kong, is named Weta in its honour. The largest species can grow to the size of a mouse, an unsettling trait in any insect. Some species have tusks."

I just might make Wetapunga the mascot for this sight. I wouldn't want to offend the god of ugly things. Not little old me.

Thanks for the write up, Sarah!

Photo source: Brenda Anderson

Weta Minute

The tusked weta comes in three varieties. They are native to New Zealand and endangered. The tusks aren't for biting and only the males possess them. They're used for shoving and pushing their opponents around.

If I could choose a mutant power, I might choose to have some weta traits. I wouldn't mind a nice pair of tusks for pushing people around. Plus, these guys can leap over three feet. Proportionally, that would give me, as Weta Man, quite an impressive jumping ability. But it might make me unbearably ugly. But that could be a special power in and of itself...

Wait, I'm blogging, not fantasizing. Sorry people.

Photo courtesy: Terra Nature

The stuff of nightmares

You may be trying to comfort yourself that that is a child's hand and a baby carrot. It is not.

That's the largest specimen ever found of an insect called the weta, and has been declared the largest insect in the world in terms of weight. It has a wingspan of 7 inches and weighs 71g, which I am not going to translate into a weight system that I understand because I am afraid of the answer.

You can read more about it here, if you dare. You can also read more about Mark Moffett, who discovered it, here. The news coverage refers to him oddly as a "nature-lover" and "former park ranger," but he's actually a rather famous naturalist, explorer, and photographer.

-Wombat (No Relation)