eli5: why do insects just sit stil for hours at a time?
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Insects don’t have the same mental capabilities as us, they are essentially biological robots that complete preprogrammed tasks. I’d youbarent hungry, looking for a mate or fleeing a predator staying still is the most efficient thing to do so the insects with the genetics that encourage that survived longer and reproduced more.
Most animals do this as well, its survival instincts. Move more = need more energy = need to eat more. For prey animals move more = higher chance of predator seeing you, also more energy so need to eat more and thus expose yourself to predators more. Same goes for insects
Probably the same reason some people theorize humans sleep. When we were evolving, there was no reason for us to be active at night since it was always too dark for us to do anything useful. If we were active at night, we were wasting energy and risking getting hurt. So we shut down.
Insects do the same thing when it’s to their survival advantage. For example, a nocturnal insect that’s active during the day is very likely to be detected and be eaten. Most insects are inactive when it’s raining. A raindrop can really ruin your day if you’re a few millimeters across. There are a lot of times when it’s best for survival to be doing nothing.
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