Insects: Form and Movements

The module was to make students understand the forms of the insects and the logic behind it. We, the students, had to choose an insect which we either find fascinating or too disgusting.

The insect I chose was an orchid mantis, which is found in the tropical forests of southeast Asia. It resembles a flower and are known to grab their prey at a blinding speed.

What fascinated me about this insect was how it looked and its behaviour. The orchid mantis looks exactly like a flower, and can blend in easily with them. Many might think that it camouflages itself in-between the orchids, but the interesting thing is that the mantis does not. Instead of being hidden and overlooked, this mantis wants to stand out. If kept in-between several orchids, this mantis looks more bright and attractive. Basically, the mantis wants the other insects to come near it.

The orchid mantis attracts the prey towards itself to attack it. This behaviour is known as aggressive mimicry.

We started our process by making a few sketches of our chosen insect.

We also made smaller models to understand the form of the insect more clearly.

This is the final model:

During this process, I had changed the materials I used thrice. The first material I used was air-dry clay. The problem I was facing was that the clay was not sticking (merging) with each other properly and was falling apart. The second material was wood. Though this material did not fall apart, shaping the wood was taking a lot of time and joining the joints was proving to be hectic. Not only that, but the model was also becoming too stiff and heavy. The third and last material I used was styrofoam. This material was easier to shape and join. The problem still lied with making the model stand, for which a thin steel wire was used later.

I learned how different materials affects the form of the model, how different insects' bodies affect their behaviour and vice versa. Also, there was a lot of class interaction happening during the module, which enabled exchange of different ideas and perspectives, and was fun too.