Collecting Insects, a personality trait??

[beetlehorn]

Ever since I first saw a collection of Morphos when I was a child, I have been interested in collecting insects, especially butterflies. Whenever the subject of collecting comes up at work or at a gathering be it a social event, or even a family cookout, I can't help but feel somewhat alone in my interests. My immediate family are rather used to it, but it just seems to me that most people don't "get it". For example, a guy I work with noticed an image on my cell phone of a rather large female P. glaucus with lots of blue that I took last summer. He just couldn't get past the idea that a grown man would have a butterfly picture, (instead of a photo of a cool car, or Harley D., or maybe even a porno girl). It didn't seem "manly" enough to him I suppose. Perhaps collecting insects says something about us as individuals, after all, it is not a mainstream hobby, at least not in modern times. For the most part, collecting insects is done by men. There are a few women that enjoy collecting, but in my opinion even female collectors get "strange looks" from the general public at times. So the question remains...does collecting insects make us somewhat different from other people, thereby actually defining our personality? What is it that brings about this strange desire to collect? One facet for me is that I have always been fascinated with things in nature, and I am somehow moved to want to preserve and record objects of natural history. I have collected seashells, rocks and minerals, and other things of interest, but nothing comes close to my passion for insects, and that is what most people cannot grasp, I suppose it seems somewhat inappropriate to them. Does anyone else here ever get the same impression? Tom

[wingedwishes]

I do not quite experience that. I sell insects as art to make money to buy insects for my collection. I go to a flea market to do it. I get to talk to little old couples ladies who like it as art; younger couples who like the "unusual"; eco types who like that I raise and release alot of them; kids who always like bugs; Pet people who like animals....... and so on. True, I don't get to talk to experts. I do however really enjo it when I see thankful parents bring their kids to see me all the time because they think ther kids are isolated like you wrote about. I go to schools and teach about insects too (on my own time). To see people gain an appreciation equals to me getting the privilege of speaking to an expert. I am also lucky that I have 3 daughters who share some interest of the hobby with me.

[lucanidae25]

I think for any insect collectors, there are two elements have to come together. 1st a naturalist and 2rd a collector by personality nature, you can be naturalist but not interested in collecting or a collector (ie stamps, comics.......) that's not interested in nature.

For me is both I like collecting and nature but I also think my personality defines which family I'm collecting too. My parents have alway knew I like insents and they bought me a frame with Morpho didius and Trogonoptera brookiana from a business trip to Japan when I was only 9 year old. I had to take the frame appart so I can touch the butterflies but then I found out they are so easily brake and leave finger marks behind, butterfly just dosen't do it for me. I was totally different when I 1st hold a beetle on my hands, beetles are robust, 3 dimensional and has weapons like horns, jaws and antena. I was totally hooked.

I don't really care how others think of me and I like myself being different from other people, there're enough people in this world who cares about elephant, panda or tiger..... We need more people to care about the little insects in this world.

Raymond

[Khalid Fadil]

Yeah, I get what you mean, beetlehorn...

My own parents are against me collecting insects... Its really hard sometimes...

[starlightcriminal]

I love the natural world and systematic collecting so what is more perfect than insects with such limitless possibilities? Also in the sciences by nurture and profession, though not insects. I could go crazy with sea shells or anything else natural and collectible if I would allow myself. I have a great collection of the world's durable and interesting seeds, also a work in progress. It's definitely a personality thing in my case.

I take solace in the fact that my cell phone pics are things people often have never seen. Besides, what's more manly than hunting and taxidermy? Sure, they're tiger beetles not tigers, but still... you get to keep your soul after the kill, right? I'm pretty sure if you need a picture of a scantily clad woman on your cell phone to feel manly than you probably have some, shall we say "inadequacy" issues anyway. And who is more likely to get the girl- the one with trashy photos of other girls on the phone or the guy who can impress by unleashing a flourish of knowledge about the delicate and beautiful butterflies of the world? I'm just guessing at the mindset of the female population at large, but I think that women dig men who dig butterflies better than men who dig other women.

[entoman]

You are completely right beetlehorn in the sense of insect collectors being a rare breed. There are plenty of people in the world who find insects interesting and/ or unusual enough to purchase a mounted specimen for decorative purposes, but very few who are willing to take such specimens seriously as anything other than something interesting to look at. However I do not think that this is due to the possession of a particular character trait, but rather the development of one (or more). Wingedwishes correctly observes that children are always fascinated by insects. On one occasion I did a presentation on insects for a group of elementary school children at my old school in which I showed them a few cases from my insect collection. They were amazed to say the least and when I was finished I asked them to raise their hands if they were interested in making their own insect collection. Almost everyone of them did. It seems that somewhere along the line mainstream society chokes off this fascination for the natural world and replaces it with a fear thereof. We happen to be the lucky ones who somehow escaped this purging. Anyway, those are my thoughts on the subject.

[bichos]

HI beetle horn.
yes its a point I have wanted to bring up on the forum 'the psychology of the insect collector' with a love for nature and collecting as the main drives. I can remember as you with the morphos. I saw an exhibition when I was just a kid it was a series of lucanids! I can still see it, it ignited something within... I just had to get some (much like when I hit puberty and noticed girls:D ) that weekend my family and I went for a picnic in the woods and I remember finding a snake but no beetles, so disappointed:(
For me its an escape just me nature and my target species, its meditative, refreshing.
And often I do not tell colleagues and friends of my activities its like a secret a double life
My family think I'm weird "playing with dead bodies again?"
And even an Invertebrate zookeper in the Melbourne zoo who has writen books on spiders and insects in general, whom I worked with, could not understand why I was driven to "collect". It seemed perfectly normal to me to hire a car and drive to the mountains to look for a group of beetles only about 15mm (Ceratognathus sp.) istead of sightseeng or socialising whilst in the beautiful city of Melbourne, its just what I do I told him... Most of the places I travel to involve some form of collecting.
Insect collecting may seem manly to us, however I don't think the rest of the population would ever agree, bugs are often belittled and eventhough we "hunt" and "kill" specimens, it is not seen as a manly pursuit.
I agree with Raymond our personality may also dictate the grops we pursue
I call it a healthy hobby, but its more than that it's a passion and whilst most people think I'm weird some say they wish they had a hobby as engrossing and interesting as mine

[bichos]

put this on ya phone
p.. girls and insect

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[bichos]

one more ;D

"taken" from Japanese site

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[downundermoths]

Apr 25, 2011 21:14:16 GMT -8 bichos said:

put this on ya phone
p.. girls and insect

You turning into a spammer, mate ?? LOL
For me Rhyssonotus and camel toes should not appear in the same piccy...

[saturniidave]

Definitely not Baz, I'll take a camel toe any day over a beetle! ;D

[wolf]

hmmmmm..i don't know, but i think maybe other ppl would look even more strange on you if you had hentai on your mobile, instead of insects?

[dertodesking]

I think that collecting is very much a male trait. All of the collectors (of anything) that I know are male. The one exception to this rule is my wife who has a handbag and shoe collection which would rival that of Imelda Marcos

Simon

[panzerman]

I know some female insect collectors, however there are many females who collect stamps(Queen Elizabeth II) a famous example, etc. My favorite collectibles are rare coins, I was at a rare coin auction, there were a lot of really attractive ladies bidding...

John

[Khalid Fadil]

The only thing my cell phone's full of is pics of my guitars. ;D