If magpies can nick our shiny objects for their own purposes, why not other animals?
French artist Hubert Duprat puts jewels in the aquariums of caddis fly larvae, obliging them to build their cocoon-like sheaths out of materials like gold and diamonds.
The result is a breathtaking mix of nature and human design which raises all kinds of biological, artistic, and philosophical issues, not the least of which is Duprat’s observation that “certain larvae…seem to have better facility with some materials than with others.” Some insects just have natural class, dahling.
