- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Wait!
Don't head over to the Bohart Museum of Entomology in the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane on Saturday, April 20 during the 110th annual UC Davis Picnic Day.
Why?
It will be closed.
The Bohart Museum, part of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology (ENT), will be staffing a pop-up tent from noon to 4 p.m. in front of Briggs Hall, home of the department.
That means all the "bug" displays at the 2024 UC Picnic Day will be at one place: Briggs Hall. The Bohart has provided a QR code and the location:
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
When the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology hosts its "bug activities" at Briggs Hall during the 110th annual UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday, April 20, one of the most popular is maggot art.
Children and adults alike create maggot art by using plastic forceps to dip a live maggot into water-based, non-toxic paint. They then watch it--or guide it--to make the drawing they're seeking.
The result: It's suitable for framing (or at least a spot on the refrigerator door).
Rebecca O'Flaherty, a former graduate student of UC Davis forensic entomologist Robert "Bob" Kimsey, coined the educational...
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
A monarch butterfly caterpillar goes through five stages or instars before it J's and becomes a jade-green chrysalis.
Scientists estimate that only 10 percent of the eggs and 'cats survive to adulthood.
They don't "survive" at all in California classrooms.
California classrooms used to showcase the metamorphosis of the monarch--from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to adult-- but no more. If you live in California, you're not allowed to collect or rear monarchs without a scientific permit. And scientific permits are difficult to obtain.
According to the California...
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Bugs rule, but other critters do, too, on UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day!
You won't want to miss the eighth annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, set from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 16. The free, family friendly event will feature 13 museums or collections.
Have you ever seen a chocolate tree loaded with fruit? Or a plant that folds its leaves when you touch it? No? Ever seen a Humboldt squid, a giant predator that's also known as a jumbo squid? How about a Peruvian sling shot? Or fossils more than 550 million years old?
No? Ever watched scientists prepare a bobcat specimen for display? Or taken a selfie with a red-tailed hawk? Or petted a stick...
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's about value. It's about respect. It should not be about fear.
UC Davis entomology major Lohitashwa “Lohit” Garikipati, who will be displaying his praying mantis collection at the Bohart Museum of Entomology during the seventh annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day on Saturday, Feb. 17, is keenly interested in sharing information about insects.
“Every organism on the Earth has value, and we should respect that,” says Garikipati, a third-year entomology student who rears praying mantises. “Regardless of its appearance, its lifestyle, or its behaviors, all the life that we see here on Earth is...