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Step away from the slipper.

That bug crawling on your windowsill or buzzing near your balcony? It might just be saving your vegetables, keeping your air clean, or reducing the number of mosquitoes that bite you at night.

For decades, we’ve been trained to swat first and ask questions never. But not all insects are pests. In fact, many are quiet, tireless workers keeping our ecosystems and lives intact.

From pollinating your fruit to breaking down waste, certain insects are essential to how nature functions. Kill them off, and you don’t just lose a bug, you risk unravelling an entire system. Here are five such insects you should absolutely never kill, and exactly why they deserve our attention, not our extermination.

1. Ladybugs

What they do:
These tiny spotted beetles are pest assassins. They feed on aphids, scale insects, whiteflies, and mealybugs—pests that destroy crops and ornamental plants. A single ladybug can gobble up 50 aphids in a day, and its larvae can consume even more during their growth cycle.

Where to find them:
Look for them on rose bushes, vegetable plants, and flowering herbs—basically anywhere aphids are running wild.

Why you shouldn’t kill........

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