Life Will Find A Way,

of living in the most unhospitable environments, 

photograph © James Bailey/inaturalist, take the La Brea Tar Pits near Los Angeles, California, it has killed countless millions, from giant dinosaurs to the smallest insects, more a place of death than life, but incredibly one fly has made it is home, walking over the tar for other insects the tar has trapped to feed on, it is the petroleum fly, (Diasemocera petrolei), it is a small fly about the size of a fruit fly,

 

William Homan Thorpe, a prominent British zoologist, and ethologist and ornithologist, once called Diasemocera petrolei undoubtedly “undoubtedly one of the chief biological curiosities of the world.” How the tiny larvae can survive in the toxic La Brea Tar Pits and even consume petroleum without any adverse effects is still not properly understood by scientists, the larvae only leave the petroleum pits to pupate, usually opting for grass stems on the edge of the pool. Mature petroleum flies have wings, but they rarely ever use them, instead spending their time strolling on the surface of the La Brea Tar Pits. Although their legs are perfectly equipped for navigating the toxic liquid, if their bodies or wings make contact with the viscous liquid, they are just as vulnerable as any other insect and can become food for their own larvae, although the fly larvae of the La Brea Tar Pits were discovered in 1899, but to this day the mechanism that makes them immune to the toxic natural asphalt is largely unknown, as they say, ‘Nature will find a way’, I should say the correct quote is 'Life will find a way', how amazing that something could actually be living there.