HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
What do these creatures
below have in common? (Many others can be added to this category, too.) While a person might guess what aspects these creature might share anatomically in answer to the question, that's not what I'm thinking about.
With Thanksgiving just around the corner, we all have a picture about what we will be eating that day! We know what
everything looks like, too. And, we're thankful!
But, what these creatures have in common is that they are also food that people eat! I can't imagine what the first person who saw these creatures must have thought! I mean, who would look at a lobster or a snail, and think that it is something to eat?!
In South Africa many years ago, I was waiting for a medical team that had gone into the bush for some work. I was waiting with the vehicle by the road when at least 10 Zulu women came up to the car, each one carrying a huge bowl on their head full of giant caterpillars! They stopped at the car, and sat down in the shade. They lifted up some caterpillars to me,
as though they were offering them to me. I wasn't sure what their intent was, but I soon learned! They popped off the heads, held up the caterpillar by their back end, then squeezed the raw guts directly into their mouths! Needless to say, I didn't have much appetite the rest of the day.
The large tarantula pictured here was walking on my arm
in Puerto Rico a number of years ago. It's basically the only spider that has ever walked on me -- and lived! But again, who would ever look at a creature like this and think it's food?!
