The Orange-horned Tarantula Hawk is one of this island’s most fascinating insects. These wasps are a deep metallic blue, with bright orange antennae. They are some of the island’s key pollinators, since the adults eat nectar from flowers. But the young ones eat tarantulas! And their mothers have a very smart way to make sure their babies always have fresh meat. The adult females are superb hunters. They hunt down tarantulas — but they don’t kill them. Instead, they paralyze them with their venom. Then they bury them in a burrow, and lay eggs on them. When their children hatch, they devour the paralyzed tarantula alive, bit by bit!

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