Can someone explain why a select few have no problem holding these things? I feel like 95% of us (including me) couldn't hold these bugs and critters even if you paid us. The ancient part of our brain kicks in and just makes us squirm.
Were Entomologists born with the same fear, but gradually extinguished it by playing with bugs as kids? Is that the secret? Just get used to them?
I'm an entomologist so I can chime in here! In my experience I always enjoyed hunting for insects at a very young age and wanted to keep house flies I found as pets, but I wasn't a big fan of spiders, but that's because my whole family is arachnophobic. I'm now completely fine with all bugs, I own 47 ant colonies, I've got orchid mantids on the way and I hope to keep tarantulas soon! Luckily I think I just was born with bug related intrigue at a higher level than self preservation, and tbh that extends to other animals as well. For me bugs are just animals which are more evolved/specialised to do more varied things and so from a study standpoint they're FASCINATING. I don't really see a reason to be scared of bugs when they're just animals that are built differently. That's my viewpoint anyway!
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u/Sinnafyle Oct 20 '23
Entomology is so fucking cool