Deepa Padmanabhan’s ‘Invisible Housemates’ explores the creatures living quietly among us

A queen bee is surrounded by worker bees. PICs COURTESY/ WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Journalist Deepa Padmanaban's book Invisible Housemates (HarperCollins) is a collection of essays that offer a sensitive, empathetic insight into the world of creatures that inhabit our homes. Geckos hide behind our paintings; crows perch on the bars of our windows; ants escape into syrupy corners; cockroaches sneak into drawers filled with grains. Padmanaban asks: How well do we really know these housemates?

She tells us, "Many of us go on safaris for the thrill of catching sight of a rare or endangered animal. We rarely pay attention to the animals and insects that live alongside us - in and around our homes. Too often, we dismiss or even despise the creatures, labelling them as mere pests. My idea was to illuminate this unnoticed biodiversity thriving around us, and highlight that the pests we revile often only become so through our own unintended or deliberate actions."

FUN FACT: The Indian giant squirrel can be found only in India. In Marathi, it's referred to as ‘Shekru'. This is the state animal of Maharashtra. PIC COURTESY/Bombay NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY

She insists on the need to shift our perspective and adopt "a more mindful, responsible approach to managing their populations". To credibly share research facts, Padmanaban scoured scientific journals, news websites, science magazines, blogs on pop culture and mythology, and books like Scottish ornithologist J Denis Summers-Smith's On Sparrows and Man.

Cool facts about five housemates

Group calls: Cockroaches are social creatures that show signs of stress when forced to live alone. Consequently, their development decelerates and they lose interest "in finer things in life like foraging for food". They can communicate with fellow cockroaches by secreting pheromones to alarm them of potential danger, or to attract mates. Interestingly, they choose their new homes collectively too by coming to a decision together.

Deepa Padmanaban

Going nuts: Squirrels are massive hoarders and take their food storage seriously. They organise where to bury nuts, often collecting and stashing them in one place. More commonly, though, they scatter the acorns across different locations to avoid the risk of losing their nuts to other animals. They understand the geography of their area well, and even use visual cues, such as landmarks and colours, to find their food.

Memory wiz: Crows have excellent memories. When threatened, they remember the face of their predator for their entire lives. Researchers have recorded that crows can also distinguish between known and unknown voices, and evaluate the latter to ensure their safety. Padmanaban notes that such behaviour can be likened to a child's, who may ignore their mother's scolding, but can become alert when in contact with a new voice.

Andes Giant Glass Frog

Leader buzz: The queen bee has great reproductive ability. Not only is she the leader of the kingdom, she is also the only one who can lay eggs. When she takes a mating flight and mates with 20 male bees, she lays 2000 eggs every day for the rest of her life, i.e., about two to five years. Ancient thinkers did not know that queen bee rules her colonies, and often used bees as symbols of royal masculine power.

True toughie: Frogs can survive extreme weather conditions. The wood frog of the Arctic Circle freezes its body during harsh winter and returns to its normal activities during spring. It does this by protecting vital organs through glucose in its blood. Meanwhile Australian water-holding frogs can hide in burrows underground to survive desert heat. Glass frogs turn transparent, camouflaging with the environment to escape predators, like Harry Potter with his invisibility cloak.

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