©Leif Brost
Insects and spiders living on the forest floor millions of years ago got entrapped
in sticky resin. Today, the resin has hardened to amber and these ”frozen
dramas” are visible like a window to the past.
Some inclusions may have ended up together by accident, others because of their
behaviour. Mating couples fell into the resin. Parasites or predators were trapped
together with their victims. Half of the insects were feeding on other insects.
Spiders on the forest floor were hunting with or without a web. Small mites
clung to their hosts as parasites or to move to a new location. Ants were caught
while tending their lice and plants.
Some samples of these behaviours from the past are perfectly preserved in three
dimensions. Life and behaviour in these 25-40 million year old amber pieces
show that these insects were very similar to today's.
There are hundreds of different kinds of amber found all over the world. The
oldest is about 225 million years old. The most well known sources are found
in the Baltic Sea region and in the Dominican Republic in the West Indies. Fossil
evidence shows that the oldest insects already existed 350-400 million years
ago. They have since come to dominate the world in both species and numbers.
There are 200 million insects to each human. We humans, just newcomers, are
only about a million years old.
Copies of the exhibition can be ordered for display in your museum, showroom or elsewere, for details click here.
Drawings made by: Jakob Sunesen and Bente Vita Pedersen
Photos by: Leif Brost
Copyright ©Leif Brost, 2015. All rights reserved.