In this Tuesday, September 12, 2017 photo, Amornrat Simapsaisan, a local shop manager, watches before she ate watermelon salad with bamboo worms, at Inspects in the Backyard restaurant, Bangkok, Thailand. Tucking into insects is nothing new in Thailand, where street vendors pushing carts of fried crickets and buttery silkworms have long fed locals and adventurous tourists alike. But bugs are now fine-dining at the Bangkok bistro aiming to revolutionize views of nature’s least-loved creatures and what you can do with them. She tucked in quite happily to her watermelon and cricket salad on a recent evening. “It’s tasty. It’s munchy”, she said. (Photo by Sakchai Lalit/AP Photo)

A hogweed bonking beetle and yellow dung fly in a stalk standoff (the fly gave in), in Burley-in-Wharfedale, Yorkshire, England. (Photo by Rebecca Cole/Alamy Stock Photo)

These macro images by Alejandro Santillana are being showcased in the Insects Unlocked project at the University of Texas at Austin. Here: A female sweat bee. (Photo by Alejandro Santillana/Insects Unlocked/Cover Images)

The National Geographic Photo Ark is a travelling exhibition of photographer Joel Sartore’s quest to create a photo archive of biodiversity around the world. So far, Sartore has captured studio portraits of more than 6,000 species – a number that he hopes to double. On 1 July, the ark will open at Melbourne zoo – the first time it has been exhibited in the southern hemisphere. More than 50 portraits will be on display, including many of Australian endangered animals being protected by programs at the zoo itself. These captions have been edited from text supplied by Melbourne zoo. Here: Barking owl. (Photo by Joel Sartore/National Geographic Photo Ark/The Guardian)

In this handout photograph received from Sumukha J.N on December 15, 2016, the newly-discovered spider Eriovixia Gryffindori sits on a leaf in the Kans in India's Western Ghats. (Photo by Sumukha J.N./AFP Photo)

A woman tries to eat a water bug at a bar in downtown Tokyo, Japan, February 12, 2017. A Tokyo bar on Sunday offered courageous couples and curious gourmets a special menu of desserts and drinks made with insects ahead of Tuesday's holiday. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Reuters)

Model Jessie May Smart poses with Blue Morpho butterflys, ahead of the opening of, “Butterflies in the Glasshouse”, at RHS Wisley in Wisley, Britain, January 13, 2017. (Photo by Peter Nicholls/Reuters)

Damselflies covered in dew rest on a wild flower by the Po River, northern Italy on August 15, 2016. (Photo by Alberto Ghizzi Panizza/Barcroft Images)