Bug Squad

This is a a story about a spider and a skipper. Technically, a banded garden spider (Argiope trifasciata) and a fiery skipper butterfly (Hylephila phyleus, family Hesperiida). The garden spider lies in wait, its head down, clinging to its real estate, an enormous sticky web.

Photographers are frustrated, and rightfully so, with all the thievery on the Internet. Like many other photos, "The Sting," is being used illegally for commercial purposes. It's appeared on sites like PhotoBucket where unscrupulous people sell it as canvas prints and holiday cards.

Deep in the jungles of Cambodia, near the temples of Angkor, an unlikely drama takes place. Blue ants of the genus Leptogenys, native to southeast Asia, surround their prey, a massive millipede. It's almost like circling the wagons in a scene from the Wild West. Or "rodeo-style behavior.

A passion for butterflies coupled with a yearning to protect their habitat is what drives 98-year-old Louise Hallberg, founder of the nine-acre Hallberg Butterfly Gardens in Sebastopol.

If you've ever seen honey bees foraging on primrose, you may have seen something unusual. What's with the pollen hanging below their hind legs as they buzz from primrose to primrose? There's a reason for that.