When people in Africa or Australia pick up a stick for playing fetch with a pet, they'd better make sure the stick isn't alive. Giant stick insects can be so huge that some are easily mistaken for fallen tree branches. These slow-moving creatures maintain a constant disguise so predators won't be able to see them. They reveal an incredible skill only when they need to escape: They take flight and head for safety in (where else?) a tree.
Quick, Hide! Stick insects look a lot like sticks. When crawling on shrubs and trees, these creatures are nearly impossible to spot among leafless branches.
Size Matters: Giant stick insects range anywhere from six inches in length to an amazing 22 inches-that's nearly two feet long! The biggest species need a lot of foliage to eat, and make their home in the forests of Malaysia.
It Can Fly![]
Stradling a twig, this walking stick hides from predators by staying still.
These giant insects have small, stubby sets of wings hidden under their twig-like exoskeletons. More amazing is that these stick bodies can actually take to the air. The creatures travel from one tree to another by air so they don't have to climb down and brave the jungle floor, which can be filled with lurking predators. Most of these giant insects' flights are short controlled glides in which they drop from the top of a tree and land on a lower nearby branch.
Slow Motion: Aside from their stick-like appearance, these creatures have virtually no defenses. Giant stick insects keep up their disguise at all times by moving so slowly that you'd have to stare closely at them for several seconds to notice a trace of any movement.
Miss Me? Here's proof that giant stick insects are extremely hard to spot: the six-inch "lobster" species was thought to have gone extinct in 1960. Scientists were shocked in 2001 when the species was found alive and well in the Australian Outback!
Friends in Disguise[]
Giant walking sticks have multiple relatives. One cousin that can be found in some of the same habitats is the leaf insect. Instead of looking like a stick, this creature looks exactly like a wide plant leaf, which camouflages it perfectly as it munches on leaves. Its disguise is so convincing that plant-eating insects sometimes bite into the leaf insect by mistake.
Trading Card[]
Trivia[]
- The knowledge card says Giant Walking Sticks. The trading card says Giant Walking Stick.
- The giant walking stick's art is used on the back of the Gladiator Insects knowledge card.
- The knowledge card interestingly lists both only a single name (in this case, Subfamilies) in the scientific name part and two different groups, whereas most cards that have only a single Latin identifier cover a single group. This is fitting with the use of a "Subfamilies" label, rather than the usual "Species"
- Giant Walking Stick is often considered the least fitting of the Nightmares of Nature cards. Not only is it not a carnivore, omnivore, meat de-composer, or a parasite like most of the cards in this category, it also isn’t a dangerous/highly aggressive herbivore (like the Hippopotamus or the African Buffalo). The closest thing to qualifying for this category is either its appearance, or the note on defensive spines in the Did You Know? section.
- It is one of three featured stick insects, along with the Florida Walking-Stick and Macleay's Spectre.