Facts About Insects and Invertebrates

It has been calculated that for every man, woman and child on earth, there at least 250,000 insects and they make up more than 95% of all the species on the planet. This page looks at some of the amazing facts about Britain's smallest creatures.

Vital Ingredients

All insects must have:

• Three body parts - a head, thorax, and abdomen
• Six jointed legs
• Two antennae to sense the world around them
• An exoskeleton - insects have their skeleton on the outside of their body.

It doesn't matter if insects have wings or not, as long as all of the above criteria are met. As a result, many little creatures, including spiders and centipedes, are not classified as insects.

Worldwide without a Web

• Insects have been incredibly successful in evolving and spreading throughout the world.
• More than 27,000 different types of insect have been found in Great Britain.
• Unlike humans, the blood of an insect is usually green.
• Insects have the strongest muscles of any creature on earth