Cactus is easy to take care of, but the low maintenance plant can develop issues that will need your attention. Find out what ...

With Morocco’s prickly pear season approaching, renewed outbreaks of the invasive cochineal insect have been detected in ...

The brilliant carmine of the painter, and the rich scarlet and crimson colors of the silk and woolen dyer, are produced from a small bug which feeds on the cactus plant This insect, called ...

Centuries before the now-banned red dye No. 3 was synthesized in a lab, humans turned to insects to color their foods, fabrics and artwork.

Tiny cochineal bugs like to drink sap from cactus. If you squish them, you get a scarlet surprise. Tuna found in the desert?

Of cactus, cochineal and cosmetics: How imperialism and overseas trade are behind a red dye obtained from a cactus About 2000 years ago, Aztec people had been using cochineal insects to colour ...

The cochineal is a tiny insect deeply rooted in the history of Oaxaca, Mexico. Female cochineals spend most of their lives with their heads buried in juicy cactus pads, eating and growing.

Garcia's family specializes in the production of cochineal dye that comes from the crushed bodies of tiny female insects that contain carminic acid and feed on the pads of nopal cactus plants.

But how does this strategy work? The cochineal sucks the sap from the plant, leaving the cactus dry and eventually killing it.

(via Deep Look) The cochineal is a tiny insect deeply rooted in the history of Oaxaca, Mexico. Female cochineals spend most of their lives with their heads buried in juicy cactus pads, eating and ...