Throughout history, wars have been waged and men have killed and died, all to assert their ownership over a tiny piece of this great globe. While the convoluted histories and claims of who came first are hard to judge, one thing is for sure — it’s an insect’s world. The creepy-crawlies don’t just predate us by over 400 million years, but also outnumber any other class of terrestrial animals with an estimated population of 1.4 billion insects for every human on the planet. As monsoon showers bid the city adieu, the insects at the BNHS Conservation Education Centre in Goregaon end their hiatus and emerge to start a new life cycle.

Drashti Danani