i was a grown man, about 28 when i first encountered these when living in the US, i found them fascinating, and everyone thought it was hilarious i had a jar and was catching them.
When I'd stay with my dad as a kid we had a hill about 200 yards from our house, where the trees were, that opened up into a wild field behind our house with a tree line separating the lawn from the field.. every sunset, right after he'd get home from work, we'd lounge outside on the patio, talk about stuff and watch em while my sisters tried to catch em. About a year after I graduated HS they moved into a smaller condo as my other grandma died, my youngest (still a year older than me) step bro was out of the house, and step mom sick of cleaning... anyway haven't seen one irl since.
Now I'm sad.
I guess there are a bunch of different species, too? In my country we have lightning bugs/fireflies but they're way tinier, like you can't really see them unless they light up. They're definitely not these massive chonky bugs.
It's cool that a bunch of different species of bugs around the world just evolved into having a glowing butt independently.
We don't have them in the UK.
I'd be tempted to just let a bunch free, and hope they mate with Spiders, so we get a heads up when they're around, instead of scaring the eff out of us in the shower.
The plan does fall flat, when we reach out to turn the wrong light off...
Now I'm sad.
It's cool that a bunch of different species of bugs around the world just evolved into having a glowing butt independently.
I'd be tempted to just let a bunch free, and hope they mate with Spiders, so we get a heads up when they're around, instead of scaring the eff out of us in the shower.
The plan does fall flat, when we reach out to turn the wrong light off...