Collected here are the most curious and entertaining articles on the world of insects from award-winning "New York Times" writers. From the mysterious monarch butterfly to the lowly dung beetle, there is much for humans to learn from these ancient survivors.

Over the course of evolution, insects have learned to live in every extremity of the earth, from the scorching sands of the Sahara to the snow-mantled wastelands of Antarctica, and have inhabited the planet 3000 times longer than humans. Collected here are the most curious and entertaining articles on the world of insects from award-winning "New York Times" writers, including Natalie Angier, William K. Stevens, Jane E. Brody, Malcolm W. Browne and Carol Kaesuk Yoon. Such wonders are revealed as the deadly love affairs of an Australian spider; the aerodynamic secrets of insect flight as demonstrated by a giant, smoke-spewing moth; and the industrious fungus-farming, leaf-cutting ants of the Amazon. From the mysterious monarch butterfly to the lowly dung beetle, there is much for humans to learn from these ancient survivors.