Humans have longed for the opportunity to be cryogenically preserved, frozen in time and then awakened in the future.

We're obviously well behind the eightball, as some of our native weta have been doing this for millennia...

Spring has sprung well and truly at our place, and after a VERY wet month or so in North Canterbury, this week's sunshine has been great for all sorts of things including early garden growth (we have the first couple of asparagus poking up out of the soil now), lambs bouncing over the paddocks, daffodils of course (and don't forget today is Daffodil Day) and moods. It is a lot easier to be in a sunny mood when it is in fact sunny.

Lambs, daffies and veges notwithstanding, when it comes to springing into action, nothing beats the mountain stone weta (Hemideina maori). This incredible insect lives in some fairly harsh climates in high altitudes in the South Island, and if you've lived or camped in these areas, you'll get what I mean about the biting cold. When we lived in Twizel, I remember the condensation freezing on the inside of our windows, and the towels would freeze as hard as a board on the washing line.

Up in the alpine areas of the South Island is definitely a tough climate for an insect. The mountain stone weta solves this problem by freezing over winter. Unlike some species of insect which have a natural antifreeze in their blood, the weta actually freezes (well 82 per cent of the water in its body does, the key is that its organs don't).

When spring arrives, the weta simply thaws out and continues its weta way in the world. And because I know that we like to be the best at everything in little ol' New Zealand, I'm proud to say that so far, the mountain stone weta is the largest insect in the world to be able to pull off this cryogenic survival tactic. The weta survive well to temperatures of about minus 10 degrees Celsius, which is quite a feat.

I posted about weta when I first began this blog (A weta in my gumboot) and I loved your weta stories in response. Have you ever seen a mountain stone weta? Does the thought of them freezing and thawing out blow your mind?

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