My first encounter with the amazing Mexican Jumping Bean!

All my life I have wondered about the 

Mexican Jumping Bean!

I used to think they were a variety of spicy beans favoured by Mexicanos to keep them regular. Make 'em run, so to speak, or even jump!

Then I thought: "Where in the world did this crazy name come from?" 

But like a lot of other things which do not seem to be worthy of deep research, I just let it go.

Then after 78 years of life on this planet Aeon came to the rescue and sent me a short film which is available on Youtube for all to see and it explains a whole lot of interesting things, the first of which is that the Mexican Jumping Bean is not even a bean! Nothing like a bean. In fact it's just a seed.

Another thing this short film explains is that these seeds do not jump of their own accord, they only jump because they have been invaded by moth larvae. And it seems that these particular seeds are sought after by a particular moth larva as a surrogate womb. Well, let's be more precise here: a sort of cocoon or pupa, but it is not one which the moth larva creates, it just invades the seed, eats it out, and then decks it out to be its temporary home.

So here's the link you've all been waiting for:

For me this tiny litle larva which selects a particular seed to inhabit for a short term, which first hollows out the seed before lining it with silk to make it more comfy, and then has found a way to bounce its new home from hot areas to cooler ones, and also takes the precaution to carve a little escape hatch for its emergence as a moth...  it makes me ask this silly question: 

"How the hell did it work out how to do all this?

Now, like many people you may answer, "It was created that way!" 

But I don't buy that easy answer to all the big questions.

You may also say: "It just evolved that way!"

But that seems to me to be an easy cop-out which skips over many sub-questions, such as how did it come to have a symbiotic relationship with just this particular seed? And also, how did it work out that it would be sensible to line the interior with silk for a more comfortable stay?

And then there's another little question: how does it know in advance that it should prepare an escape hatch for when it emerges as a moth, because when it becomes a moth it will have no mandible? That is something which totally amazes me!

Now if any of  you can answer any of these little questions for me I will be mighty obliged.  

pt