Do you know about animals that can walk on water? Maybe you can remember one or two, but there are many more.

Lizard Basilisk

The Basilisk lizard, also known as the Jesus Christ lizard, escapes from predators by throwing itself from the top of the tree where it lives and running along the surface of the river underneath the tree. They can reach impressive speeds of over 1.5 meters per second.

Lizards have long toes with strips of skin between them, and they kick the water quickly to create an air pocket as they run, which helps them stay afloat as long as they maintain their speed. When they fall into water, they can swim, but prefer to run as they are also at risk of being eaten by water-dwelling animals.

Brazilian dwarf geckos

This tiny lizard is not only very cute, but also very talented. Due to its light weight and hydrophobic skin, the gecko can easily walk on the surface of the water. Since geckos are so small (smaller than many of the insects that live in tropical forests Amazons), there is a danger of drowning for them even in the smallest puddle - scientists believe that it was because of this that their ability to walk on water developed.

Water striders

Water bugs - also known as Jesus bugs, water striders and water skippers - are members of the water strider family of insects and are distinguished by their ability to walk on water. They do this by using hydrophobic legs, which help increase the surface tension of the water, and they distribute weight evenly across all legs. Their movements are also aided by their middle legs moving in a circle like the oars of a boat, propelling them forward.

Fishing spiders

Fishing spiders (also known as pisaurid spiders) are semi-aquatic creatures and live near bodies of water and streams where they hunt. They wait near the water until they feel ripples on its surface, and then rush across it after prey. Water also helps them avoid predators, as they can lurk beneath its surface, hiding their bodies in small air bubbles. While most fishing spiders feed on insects, some larger species may even catch and eat small fish, tadpoles and frogs.

Fishing spiders, like geckos, can travel through water because they are lightweight and covered in short, hydrophobic hairs. They sometimes swim on water, holding several legs in the air while the wind pushes them along the water surface. Their short hairs also allow air bubbles to collect around their bodies as they lurk below the surface of the water. In fact, they are so buoyant that they must hold on to something while underwater, otherwise they will rise straight to the surface and emerge completely dry. Some of the spiders can stay underwater for up to half an hour.

Dolphin

Without legs, it's hard to say that dolphins can actually "walk" on water, but they are known for their ability to dance above the waves using their tail fins. Unlike other animals, which use their ability to walk on water for one evolutionary advantage or another, researchers believe that dolphins do it purely for pleasure - the equivalent of a dancing person.

It is interesting that, although they have the ability to “walk” on water, they almost never do this in wildlife, unless they were trained by a dolphin that was once caught and trained by man.

West American grebe and Clark's grebe

Both species - the Western American grebe and Clark's grebe - practice a unique and beautiful paired technique - the two of them rush through the water. Birds stretch forward, rise to their feet and beat their wings nonstop. The pair then run synchronized across the water for distances of up to 9 meters, taking as many as twenty-two steps per second.

These birds spend almost their entire lives in the water and have short wings and strong legs, which are poor for walking on land but excellent for their courtship dance in the water.

Little Petrel

Unlike most of the other animals on this list, this bird does not walk on the surface of the water, although it does something similar. In reality, it floats close to the water, eats and runs along its surface. In Europe, the bird got its name (Storm Petrel) from St. Peter, who is believed to have walked on water. Its legs are too weak to support the bird's weight for more than a few steps on land, meaning it can walk further on water than on land.

Heron on hippopotamus

Of course, herons can't walk on water, but some birds look like they can—until the hippopotamus they're standing on jumps out of the water, revealing what's really going on. Of course, the heron cannot walk on water, but such an illusion is worthy of applause.

There are a huge number of amazing creatures living in the world. Some live in the sky, others on the ground, and still others prefer water. However, there are those who skillfully combine all three elements at the same time. water strider And this is exactly what we will talk about in our article.

Water strider insect: why was the little bug called that?

"Water strider" is the name of the beetle, familiar to Russian-speaking countries. Our ancestors came up with this name by looking at the way the insect glides through water. They got the impression that with its movements it seemed to be measuring water. Moreover, this name became so attached to the beetle that even today it is still called. Although in English language his name sounds like water strider, which means “running on water.”

General information about the species

It should be noted that this is a very common insect. The water strider lives almost everywhere, with the possible exception of the cold lands of the Arctic and Antarctic. Scientists classify these creatures as members of the family of hemiptera, a suborder of bedbugs. Today, more than 700 species of water striders are known, which differ not only in appearance and size, but also in their habitual way of life.

Appearance and distinctive features

So, what does a water strider look like? The insect, the photo of which looks more like a floating stick, has a rather long, elongated body. Depending on the subspecies, its size can range from 1-2 cm to 4-5 mm. At the same time, the insect that lives in the sea is considered the smallest.

The main feature of any water strider is its long legs. Often their size exceeds the body of the bug itself. Such proportions are due to the fact that the paws are the key to the survival of the species. After all, they are the ones that allow the insect to quickly glide across the water strider. In total, the water strider has six limbs. She also has wings, but she uses them quite rarely.

Most representatives of this species are painted in dull colors. The most common colors are brown and black. By the way, this color is not accidental - nature specially awarded it to the insect. The water strider is almost always on open space, therefore, dark tones that blend perfectly with the water are its only chance to protect itself from constantly hungry birds and amphibians.

Ability to run on waves

The water strider is an insect whose description always boils down to a story about its amazing ability to resist water element. So how does she manage not to drown? The thing is that the bedbug's legs are covered with a special substance that resembles fat in its structure. This creates a kind of barrier that prevents the limbs from submerging in the water.

In addition, the insect knows how to correctly distribute weight: the load does not fall on one point, but is evenly transferred to all six limbs. As for the high speed of movement, it is achieved through fast, impulse strokes. It is they who create turbulence behind the water strider, which pushes it forward.

It is noteworthy that the bug can swim both on mirror-smooth surfaces and among waves. It is this skill that allows water striders to settle on various types reservoirs, which significantly increases their survival rate, and consequently the population.

Diet

Do not think that this is a peaceful insect; the water strider is a real predator. She boldly attacks any small creature that is unlucky enough to find itself on the surface of the water. Such impudence is completely justified, since other insects are not able to fight back, being in an element alien to them.

The hunting principle of water striders is very simple. As soon as the prey falls into the water, they swim up to it with lightning speed and cling to the body with hook-shaped front legs. Then the predator pierces the prey's shell using a sharp proboscis located on the head. Afterwards, the water strider can only suck the liquid from the body of the unfortunate creature.

Features of behavior of water striders

Many people mistakenly assume that this is an exclusively aquatic insect. The water strider indeed spends most of its life in the pond, but this does not mean that it is not capable of conquering other elements. For example, she has wings that allow her to make short flights. She uses them if her native reservoir begins to dry up and she needs to find a new shelter.

These bugs can also crawl on the ground. They do this very ineptly, since their thin legs constantly get stuck in small cracks and breaks. However, despite this, land is vital for them. The thing is that water striders cannot spend the winter in water, and therefore look for a warm home in the ground or in a tree. Thus, this one is truly unique, because it managed to conquer three elements at once.

Natural enemies

The main enemies of water striders are birds and amphibians. The former catch insects in calm sunny weather, while the latter skillfully track them at the edge of the shore. Naturally, they cannot cause much harm to the population, but individual individuals will clearly have to come to terms with a sad fate.

Almost always, while relaxing near the water, you have to observe a small insect with exorbitantly long legs, which very quickly and deftly glides along the surface of the water. This is a water strider bug: its name itself speaks about the main difference between this species and other similar insects.

The bug controls its legs with extraordinary dexterity and moves through the water like a speed skater on ice. They used to say that the bug “measured water”, which is why the well-known name was assigned to it.

What does a water strider bug look like?

There are a great many species of water striders - about 700. They are all different from each other appearance, coloring and lifestyle.

The narrow elongated body of the water strider bug (its size can vary from 1 mm to 3 cm) looks like a small stick equipped with 3 pairs of legs of varying lengths. The front legs are much shorter than the others, they are used to capture prey and regulate the speed of movement on the water.

The middle and hind legs are one and a half to two times the length of the body of the bug itself and are used as a reliable support and turning mechanism, as well as for jumping.

The bug is held on the water due to the surface tension of the latter, creating a kind of film. The bug on its paws, like a person on skis, glides across the surface, never falling under the water.

There are sensitive antennae on the head of the water strider, which help the insect to detect sound vibrations on the surface of the water. The antennae also act as organs of smell and touch.

The oral apparatus is represented by a segmented piercing-sucking proboscis, used by the bug to suck out the contents of the body of its victim.

Some water striders have wings, which make it possible to move long distances in search of new bodies of water and temporarily populate puddles. However, bedbugs do not really like to fly and try to do this in exceptional cases. Wingless bugs live in the same pond all their lives.

Body color different types The water strider can vary from light gray and greenish to dark brown. There is usually a speckled pattern on the lower surface of the back. There are no very noticeable or bright patterns to be found on it. You can see exactly what an adult water strider bug looks like in the photo below:

Bedbugs lay eggs on the leaves and stems of aquatic plants. Sometimes round whitish eggs are located separately, next to each other, but more often they are held together by a mucous substance in the form of a ribbon of 40-50 pieces.

See also our experiments on bedbugs:

We catch bedbugs and test different products against them - see the results...

The larva of this aquatic bug is in many ways similar to the adult individual, the imago, but differs in a more swollen and shorter body. It is called a nymph and feeds on the same food as an adult insect. In the photo, water strider larvae are visible next to each other:

This is interesting

The long legs of the water strider bug are covered with microscopic hairs that trap air and help the bug maintain balance. The abdomen is also covered with whitish hairs and lubricated with a wax-like liquid that literally repels water. If you try to “drown” a water strider, nothing will come of it. In the water column, the insect will be surrounded by many air bubbles and will appear silvery.

The most famous types of water striders are:

• The water strider is large, one of the largest representatives of this family in our country. The length of its body can reach 17 mm.
• The slow-moving rod-shaped water strider is found in Siberia and has such a thin body that it really looks like a stick.
• The pond strider is remarkable in that it has variegated legs.

In the tropics, the largest species of water striders are found, which can hunt small fish and bite a person quite painfully.

Lifestyle of the water strider bug

For its life, the water strider bug chooses calm, standing bodies of water or rivers with a very slow flow. Thanks to its comfortable long legs, the water strider can easily move not only on the surface of the water, but also on land. This gives the bug the opportunity to live near the water and wait for its prey there.

The water strider feeds on small invertebrates, insects (even horse flies) and fish fry. Large spherical eyes (the bug has excellent vision) help to quickly notice prey and attack it with a sharp proboscis. At the same time, the water strider holds the escaping prey with its tenacious front paws.

In winter, water striders are not active and hibernate, settling near their pond. With the onset of warm weather, they begin their previous life again and actively reproduce.

The breeding process is very interesting: the male climbs on the female, but if she does not want to mate, he hits the water with his paws. These sound waves attract predators - the enemies of water striders. The female is frightened by such a threat and agrees to contact.

The eggs hatch for about a week, then are laid either on aquatic plants in the form of a ribbon (in large species), or directly into the cavity of plant leaves (in small species). In large water striders, the clutch looks like a ribbon of eggs held together by mucus. Small bugs do not produce such mucus.

After a couple of weeks, larvae emerge from the eggs and will develop for about a month, going through several stages of molting. The water strider lives for about 1 year.

This is interesting

With the onset of cold weather, winged water striders prepare for wintering on land. During this period, the muscles responsible for raising the wings atrophy, and the wings themselves fall off, and the adult becomes wingless.

Is the water strider bug harmful?

The water strider bug does not pose any danger to humans. Only in rare cases, when the bug feels threatened or in danger, will it bite. This bite is similar to a weak prick and does not even require special treatment; it does not itch or hurt.

The only damage that water striders can cause is eating the fry of valuable fish species. The water strider bug very readily attacks fry early ages and kills them by sucking out the contents of the body. Sometimes it can devour clutches of fish eggs.

However, even for complete saturation, the water strider needs very little food, and the fish that live in the water column are rather an addition to the usual diet for the bug, which is based on insects and mosquito larvae that have fallen to the surface of the water. This means that the bug does not pose a significant threat to fisheries or the life of individual bodies of water.

This is interesting

Recently, scientists discovered an interesting and useful feature of water strider bugs: it turns out that these insects play a big role in reducing the number of horseflies. Female horse flies lay their eggs in water, and their larvae also develop here. Water striders attack both adult flies and larvae with equal eagerness. At the same time, an adult horsefly is quite a large prey for a water strider, and it is usually attacked by several bugs together. Several bugs can suck out a horsefly in a few minutes, while one individual usually spends 40 minutes to 1 hour on this.

In the reservoir where these small bugs live, you can swim without fear, and in your free time you can watch the endless running of bedbugs through the water, reminiscent of a chaotic dance.

Video filming: water strider bug

Grebe birds, which organize mating races on reservoirs, run on water differently than basilisks.

We are not surprised when we see a water strider gliding through the water - it seems to us that it is easy for a light insect to stay on an unsteady surface (although it is worth adding that this is not only due to the insignificant weight of water striders, but also to the special hairs covering their body and tips of their legs) . But when, for example, a large waterfowl begins to run across the water, it already seems strange.

Western Grebe (Photo by Mike Forsman / Flickr.com.)

Western Grebes in the mating race. (Photo by Paul Souders/Corbis.)

Clark's grebe with baby. (Photo by Ron Wolf/Flickr.com)

Basilisk running on water. (Photo by Bence Mate/Visuals Unlimited/Corbis.)

Grebes run on water, and they do not help themselves with their wings. In addition to toadstools, basilisk lizards can perform this trick. From the point of view of physics, there is nothing impossible here, and many will probably remember the famous problem of P.L. Kapitsa: “At what speed should a person run on water so as not to drown?” Curious readers can find its solution on the Internet, but we will only point out that the wording itself contains some hint: the running speed, obviously, should be high. Indeed, if you look at running grebes, they move their paws very quickly, taking at least 20 steps per second. But the secret of “walking on water” is not limited to speed alone.

Zoologists from Harvard, who observed Clark's grebe and the Western grebe in their natural environment, made more than a hundred videos of the birds running, but only two videos allowed them to build a three-dimensional model of the movements of the bird's legs. Of course, grebes (and basilisk lizards) still have their paws immersed in the water, so they do part stride and part stroke. But both movements - that is, plunging the paw into the water and pulling it out of the water - are done differently by birds than by lizards. Grebes place their paws on the water with their fingers spread out, move them under the water, and then squeeze their fingers and pull their paw to the surface, moving it to the side. Clenching your fingers into a “fist” and moving sideways allows you to reduce water resistance.

This propeller-like movement is unlike that of basilisks, which move their paws in one plane without deflecting them to the sides or squeezing their toes. In an article in The authors write that the structure of the legs and the frequency with which they move provide grebes with up to 30-55% of the lifting force needed to keep the birds “walking.” But the remaining percentage is provided precisely by the characteristic manner of moving the paws back and sideways. Portal Science, which summarizes the study, mentions other work also published in The Journal of Experimental Biology, but back in 2001 - it said that the peculiar manner of moving their paws makes grebes also outstanding divers. It is possible that birds will be able to give engineers some ideas on how to improve our swimming apparatus.

But we have not yet said anything about why birds engage in “above-water” running. There are no big surprises here: it is believed that grebes choose a partner in such races, that this is simply a mating dance. The actual jogging is preceded by preening and exchanging greetings, which last a few seconds; the jogging itself does not last long either, about 7 seconds. Moreover, in artificial conditions such behavior is almost impossible to see, perhaps due to the fact that in enclosures, under the annoying attention of people, it is not possible to create a sufficiently romantic atmosphere.

You can watch a video of grebes running on water.

In summer weather, on the banks of a quiet river or pond, you can spot an interesting insect - the water bug. It is also called the water strider, which is more familiar to many of us. This name accurately reflects the lifestyle of a peculiar insect. They quickly glide along the surface of the water, spreading their long and thin legs. What kind of insects are these, their habitat, what do they eat and why were they called that?

Water striders belong to the family Hemiptera insects of the suborder bedbugs. Scientists count more than 700 species of these insects. We have the opportunity to observe in nature the most common species that lives on the surface of the water.

Whole body and tips of water bug legs covered with hard hairs that are not wetted by water. It is this water-repellent coating that allows the water strider to easily move through the water and not sink. They glide along the surface of the water, legs spread wide. They have 3 pairs of legs - the middle and hind ones are used for movement, support, and as a steering wheel. A pair of shorter front legs serves to hold prey and act as a kind of engine when moving.

To turn, the water strider moves its legs in different directions. Their elongated body may be length from 1 to 20 mm brown or dark brown color. When insects overcome obstacles, they can make jumps. They have remarkable vision, as well as the ability to transmit and receive information using vibrations in the surface of the water. Often the sensitive antennae are used by males to find a female to mate with.

River or lake individuals do not have wings, since they do not need them. There are also insects that live in puddles. They have wings, which they need to move around when puddles dry up.

The most famous types include:

• large - the largest in our regions, their body length reaches 17 mm;
• slow stick-shaped water strider - lives in Siberia, and its body resembles a stick, which is why it is called that;
• pond - distinguished by the bright color of its legs.