Outdoors

Where do all the bugs go when it rains?

Where do all the bugs go when it rains?

I’ve always wondered, where do all the bugs go when it rains?
–Catherine Hewlett, Oshawa, Ont.

Like people, bugs find shelter when the skies open up. “They’ll go just about anywhere they can find protection.” says Doug Currie, curator of entomology at the Royal Ontario Museum. That includes hanging upside down under leaves and hiding in the crevices of tree bark, under the leaf litter on the ground or beneath the eaves of cottage buildings.

“Insects are fairly robust, but when the rain picks up, all but the heartiest will disappear,” says Currie. “To an insect, a drop of water is like being hit with a bath-tub full of water.”