Most evening I like to take a stroll just after dusk to visit my sparkle. I find them mesmerising. Not just for the magical floating, fairy light effect but also as they fly over the river the fireflies create a mirror image of themselves. The symmetry of the fireflies and their reflected partners makes for quite a light show though one of some sadness too. Adult fireflies, the ones that admit light, live only for one week. Their sole purpose at this stage is to find a mate, reproduce and die. So I look at this amazing show knowing that this is also their final song and dance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I first encountered a firefly as a young five year old boy whilst living on the banks of Lake Michigan in North America. It was a hot summer night and I couldn’t sleep causing me to notice a small yellow light moving around the room. It was alternating between making large circles before suddenly switching to a zigzagging pattern. Being fearful of bugs at that age, it took several panicked runs to my parents bedroom before finally being convinced that I was in no danger. Its just a friendly firefly, they explained, which had come to light my room for me. That night I lay awake happily mesmerised by this circling, zigzagging light and since then I have always relished the joy of seeing these magical insects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I first came to Thailand, fireflies were not on my mind. So it was a pleasure indeed to find that here we actually have them in abundance. Thailand is home to over 100 species of fireflies but particularly and uniquely Synchronous Fireflies. These, for mating purpose, sync their bioluminescence<\/a> like a string of Christmas tree lights that flash on and off. It is believed they do this to avoid confusing the female with too many lights from different locations. Whatever their reason, in doing this they have given us one of the world’s most spectacular natural light shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And it is possible to go and see synchronous fireflies in Thailand. Their locations are well know and they are regularly studied. First, to get a sense of the show that awaits you, I would like to direct you to this video below. Part experiment and part living work of art it was created by two artists<\/a> who used controlled LEDs to encourage wild Pteroptyx Malaccae<\/a> to synch their bioluminese to create stunning patterns. The video is surely worth more than the 160k views it has earned at time of posting so please do view and share if you enjoyed it as much as me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Discover](\"https:\/\/nakaravillasandglamping.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Discover-Udon-Thani-synchoronus-fireflies.jpeg\")
My First Friendly Firefly<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Synchronous Fireflies – Living Work of Art<\/h2>\n\n\n\n