[Music] you've seen this brilliant red before in textiles world-renowned paintings even in the Red Coats once worn by the British Army in fact you've probably even tasted this color and it all comes from an insect deeply rooted in the history of Waka Mexico coach Neil instead of blood most insects and arachnids have hemolymph which is [Music] clear but the coachen Neil's hemolymph is a rich Crimson despite the vibrant color they produce the coachen Neil's life isn't exactly adventurous they begin as a pin head-sized nymph also called a crawler for obvious reasons it wanders around juicy
Cactus pads looking for a place to dig in the nymph starts bright red but within hours of hatching it's coated in fluffy white wax filaments of wax ooze out of these pores and grow longer than the nymph's own body this coating prevents the insects from drying out in the hot sun when a female finds the perfect place to dine she uses her mouth to hook in and hold on she'll stay here for the rest of her life eating ballooning in size and making even War wax males when they're a few weeks old encase themselves in
cocoons when they emerge but first they've grown Wings these can help them Glide to other nearby Cactus paths in search of a mate but usually a female is just steps away they get busy a few weeks after mating female coachen lay their eggs within minutes bright red nymphs hatch often before the eggs have even dropped so what's responsible for the coach andal deep dark red carminic acid a bitter substance that deters nearly all predators but not this hungry beetle larvae it gulps down so many coineal it turns red itself no hiding what you had for
lunch carminic acid is most concentrated in female coach Neils which live 3 to 4 months to Harvest female coach anals people gently brush them off cacti and dry them in the sun indigenous people in Mexico cultivated coachen Neil long before Spain made it a global commodity in the 1700s the insect was as valuable as silver Not only was its pigment beautiful it was also fade resistant inand delv a zapot town outside Waka City Weaver Marina Gonzalez grinds dried cenil on a [Music] matate she dissolves the powder into large tubs of boiling water to dye wool
next her son Juan Carlos removes the [Music] wool cleans it and dries it Juan Carlos's brother Alejandro uses a loom to transform the colored wool into stunning designs it takes about 5,000 dried coach Neals to dye this mediumsized tapestry coach Neil shows up in other places too like your food manufacturers often use it as an alternative to artificial dies but it may cause allergies and it is definitely not vegetarian the coach Neil's lasting vibrant color may be the closest the natural world has come to making a perfect red this insect may only live a few
months but its Legacy will live on for Generations hey it's Laura in food coachin is labeled Carmine coachin extract e120 or natural red four and speaking of red let's talk ladybugs they fly huge distances to gather by the thousands in a big old cuddle puddle enjoy [Music]
