World Wildlife Day - March 3, 2026

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of World Wildlife Day?  Big animals from Africa?  Kangaroos from Australia?  Grizzly bears in Alaska?  I admit that would have been my mental picture a few years ago, but alas, I’ve come to realize that some of the most important wildlife in the world lives in my backyard!  Many are tiny.  They are called insects and they are the base of the food chain.  We would not have the big, beautiful and amazing wildlife including giraffes and panda bears if there were no insects in their part of the world!

Think about what creatures eats insects.  Bats eat thousands of moths, mosquitoes, and beetles per night.  Hummingbirds feed their babies insects.  The caterpillars of moths and butterflies feed wasps, cardinal babies, robins, lizards, squirrels, and hundreds of other animals.  Those creatures become a meal for other animals including racoons, rat snakes, hawks, and eagles.  Those are then the prey of larger creatures, including owls, foxes, and bobcats.

Yes, there are many animals who are vegetarians, including the cattle from which we get our beef.  But they too need insects. Their grass is pollinated by insects including ants, wasps, moths, native bees, and many others.

If we go to the lake to fish, we catch the fish with insects or insect replicas that fool them!  Why?  Because insects are an important component of their diet.

Yet, in spite of our dependence on them, we often kill them.  When we use pesticide on our vegetable plants, we are killing 100% of the insects that come in contact with it, not just the 1% that are harmful.  When we insist on a yard with no native ant beds, we are destroying one of the best sources of aeration for our soil as well as a creature that creates compost/fertilizer for our yard.  When we want a perfectly manicured lawn and make sure that we keep it over-watered so it doesn’t have a chance to develop deep roots, we invite insects to come live in it, then we kill 100% of them, not just the pests.  We complain that we never see cardinals and hummingbirds.  Could that be because we destroy all their native food, the insects?

Yes, I think it is time for us to rethink our definition of wildlife.  Maybe those tiny little “pests” should be considered among our best friends.