Goa teen turns backyard bugs into big dreams

Goa: At 17, Ethan Xavier finds calm watching ants and beetles that most people ignore. A Class 12 student at Don Bosco School, Goa, Ethan has been obsessed with insects since age 5, when his pets were garden snails. Now he spends his days documenting every insect he finds and building a collection.“Only when you stop can you see nature move,” he says.

His finds include rare webspinners that spin silk from their forelegs, pill millipedes, stick insects and tiger beetles.

Ethan plans to study entomology and become a wildlife filmmaker like his hero, Sir David Attenborough: “My dream is to bring the wonders of the insect world into people’s living rooms.”