What will wake you up faster than 10 cups of coffee? ☕
JUST ANOTHER TERRIFYING MEMBER OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM
Happy National New Mexico Day! The Land of Enchantment is presumably worth celebrating for an entire day. I'll find out for myself what all the hubbub is about a week from today when I'm passing through and stopping for the night in Santa Fe on my way east to visit my family IRL for the first time since late 2021. I expect the New Mexicans to greet me with open arms full of yucca flowers and biscochitos! No tarantula hawk wasps,* though, please.
* Today in "things you wish you didn't know existed," please say hello to New Mexico's state insect! The tarantula hawk is a "spider wasp" that preys on tarantulas by stinging them to paralyze them before dragging the body to their brood nest and laying a single egg on it. The egg then hatches a larva which slowly devours the still-living tarantula. Sweet dreams!
Peace, love, and insect-fueled nightmares,
Matt
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