Insect hotel @museum.de

We have also thought about the very small animals. Because nature can't exist without insects. They ensure that the trees bear fruit, but of course they are also food for the larger animals. Oh yes, they feed themselves too. Ladybugs, for example, like aphids. The tiny aphids like to sit in flowers, herbs or delicate tree blossoms and eat them slowly. But then the ladybugs come along, grab the aphids and free the flowers.

Humans, of all people, are always so afraid of insects. Just one tiny wasp comes along and they start to panic. - But then they build insect hotels. How about an owl hotel?

Eulalia, don't get so excited. We foxes and owls want our freedom. We don't need hotels. But these little mini-flies like bees, wasps, butterflies or flies, they need a dry home in winter. Look, the clever people have put different materials in the insect hotel, where all kinds of little flies can find a place to stay. Wood is for wild bees or beetles, straw and hay for ladybugs, clay or sand for wasps.

Some insects also use the hotel to raise their children here. Especially bees and wasps. So an insect hotel like this is really good.

Say, I still have a question on my mind. I just don't get it. How on earth do fish get into our forest lakes? They don't fall from the sky, do they?

Well, it's a bit like the insect hotel. People have a hand in that. Just like they build hotels, they also release fish into new lakes. The fat goldfish at the top of our magnificent show quarry were certainly put there by humans. But sometimes birds also have fish eggs from - let's say “natural” lakes - on their feathers or legs. They bring them with them without knowing it.