« Summertime Simmertime |
Main
| When in the Course of Human Events... »
July 01, 2006
It's a Bug's World
Today we visited Insectropolis, a insect museum located near the Jersey Shore in Toms River, New Jersey, USA. They are open odd hours, and so by the time we arrived in the early afternoon, we had but one hour to take in the entire attraction. Fortunately the museum is rather small. But despite its small size, the insect collection it houses is magnificent! There's even a petting zoo!
I was brave and held every bug! Okay, there were only four bugs available for holding, but I held them all!
There was an African Giant Millipede, Chilean Rose Tarantula, Madagascar Hissing Cockroach, and an Emperor Scoprion; docile insects arthropods all.
The millipede felt surprisingly solid, heavy even, while the tarantula, cockroach and scorpion felt very light. The cockroach's feet were also sticky. They have these sticky pads on part of their feet that help them adhere to vertical surfaces. They mostly just sat still in my hand. The tarantula passed the time tapping her legs here and there across my fingers, while the scorpion was just starting to get comfortable in my hand and possibly readying to explore my forearm when the handler took him away.
I thought they were pretty cool, but my love and the spawn seemed less sure. I must confess that I would not have been quite so brave had they not been there. But I thought it important not to show fear so that my own apprehension about bugs would not reinforce their own reservations.
A fun time was had by all. We shall definitely return.
I give it six to eight thumbs up! More if I was a millipede!
( Sorry there are no pictures. I forgot my camera. T_T )
Posted by Tacitus at July 1, 2006 09:15 PM