What critter was Deep Look filming today? Earwigs (Patreon)

Here on Deep Look, we always have several episodes in production at the same time. Even though Josh has just published his episode on crow funerals, he's well along on his next production. On earwigs! 

Now many of you are familiar with their most prominent feature - weird fearsome looking pincers tacked on to their rear end. And you may know of them for their (unfair) reputation for crawling into people's ears and laying eggs on their brain. 

Those pincers are used for hunting, protection, and - for the males - battles for dominance. But why have them on their backside when most animals bear their weapons up front? You'll have to watch the episode to find out.

And here you can see where they *really* lay their eggs; in damp debris, preferably hidden out of harm's way. Nearly all insects lay eggs, but what is unusual about earwigs is that the females stick around to protect and clean their clutch, and even tend to the newly hatched larvae. 

Although we were grateful to the mama earwig for laying some eggs for us to film, she really didn't want her time in the spotlight. Earwigs love dank, dark places, and not long after Josh set up and lit the set, she carefully moved her eggs under the surface of the soil for protection. Doh.

Stay tuned for this episode coming June 26th. We have a couple other episodes between now and then... one by Elliott about something slimy and deadly, and another by Gabi that shows how birds of a feather stick together. But I digress. Those are subjects for another update.

-- Craig