World's Largest Bug
Providence, Rhode Island
While giant cockroaches may be biding their time
in a bid for world domination, America has been infested with other giant bugs
for a long time; a huge praying mantis
here, a humongous horse fly
there, a titanic killer bee
way down there. And shocking numbers of VW beetle "spiders"
scuttle in the margins.
But for decades, Providence, Rhode Island has been
home to the biggest creepy-crawler of all.
The "Big Blue Bug" of Providence is a
termite, 58 feet long, which is 928 times actual termite size. It was built at
a cost of $20,000, made of steel and fiberglass, and weighs two tons.
The termite nests on the roof of New England Pest Control (which
renamed itself Big Blue Bug Solutions in 2012), as if SCANNING neighboring
Massachusetts for something large, tasty, and wooden.
The termite was originally painted purple, the color of a swarming
Reticulitermes flavipes. Then the paint faded to blue and everyone started
calling it the Big Blue Bug. This had a catchy ring, and New England Pest
Control wisely began referring to itself as "Home of the Big Blue
Bug" and repainting the termite a vibrant blue every few years. In 1990 a
local radio contest rechristened the bug "Nibbles Woodaway" -- a
clever name, but most folks in Providence still call it the Big Blue BUG.
David Pontes, general manager of New England Pest
Control, told us that 35,000 people a day drive by the termite, which is only a
few feet from an elevated section of Interstate 95. "The bug is what
brings the business in," he said. "We do way over a million dollars a
year in termite work alone."
What's perhaps most impressive about the bug is
that it's acquired the status of a national celebrity. It's made appearances on
Oprah! and in the movie Dumb and Dumber. It's featured on a big map of wearily familiar attractions
at the airport in Denver, Colorado. David told us that fans from around the
world have requested (and received) over 50,000 8x10 publicity photos of the
big bug.
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