Something Awesome # 1 - Roly Polies

No matter what you called them as a child, I'm sure you were fascinated by them.  I know for myself, they were a staple of my childhood such that they are now a symbol of a time where a smooth, rigid, black shell could sustain my attention for an indescribable period of time.  And now that I forgot their existence for so long, when children show them to me, I rediscover their mysterious charm and am taken back to that place where simplicity reigns.

So when I finally got around to researching these little guys, I found out that all of my childhood assumptions of their awesomeness are completely validated!  They are teeny sized doses of pure, unadulterated bossness, and are the mother-lode when it comes to capturing children's attention.  Better than Disney.

Here a snippit from an article I found about them:

1. Pillbugs are crustaceans, not insects.

2. Pillbugs breathe through gills.

3. A juvenile pillbug molts in two sections.

4. Pillbug mothers carry their eggs in a pouch.

5. Pillbugs don't urinate.

6. A pillbug can drink with its anus.

7. Pillbugs curl into tight balls when threatened.

8. Pillbugs eat their own poop.

9. Sick pillbugs turn bright blue.

10. A pillbug's blood is blue.

(Explanations are at http://insects.about.com/od/isopods/a/10-facts-pillbugs.htm)

Crazy, right?! You say their scientific name, armadillidiidae, like "armadillo day" except you swap the "o" for a "lid" and a "eeeee"    ("arm-ah-dill-liddy-day").  Totally justifies this song I found about them (the actual song starts at 1:00)

And I'm totally building a terrarium for them and keeping some (my mom never let me have small pets in my room... but that might be because I only asked for snakes, rats, and hermit crabs).

PS. I also found out that the computer wants to auto correct my misspelling of 'rollypollies' to 'brollies'; the British word for umbrella.