Bohart Bugs at Briggs
Remember the alliteration: Bohart Bugs at Briggs.
That means that the Bohart Museum of Entomology "bugs" will be moved to the grounds of Briggs Hall during the campuswide UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday, April 18. The Bohart headquarters in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building at 455 Crocker Lane will be closed.
The Bohart Museum, part of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology (ENT), will staff its Briggs Hall activity center from 1 to 4 p.m.
This year, as in several years past, all ENT activities will be located at Briggs. That means the roach races, maggot art, pollinator displays, origami insect crafting, and more. The events span from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (See schedule)
The Bohart Museum scientists will be displaying their "Oh, My" specimen drawers and engaging the public with its live petting zoo, which includes tenants Madagascar hissing cockroaches and walking sticks (stick insects). The public is invited to hold the insects and take images. Also planned is a insect-net activity; net a paper butterfly and win a prize.
"This is the one time (UC Davis Picnic Day) when we are physically united with the department on campus for outreach," commented Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator. "Our department, grads and undergrads and staff simply cannot host two different locations on Picnic Day."
What's next on the Bohart Museum outreach schedule?
- Saturday, May 16: 1 to 4 p.m.: "Buzz Words: Insects in Literature."
- Saturday, July 18: 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., "Moth Night"
All events are free and family friendly. In addition, the Bohart Museum hosts public walk-in hours (free) on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 1 to 4:30 p.m.
The Bohart Museum, founded in 1946 by UC Davis professor Richard Bohart, is the home of eight million insect specimens; a live petting zoo, and an insect-themed gift shop. The museum's insect collection is the seventh largest collection in North America. The scientists are involved in the "understanding, documenting and communicating of terrestrial arthropod diversity."
Director of the Bohart Museum is Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair of Systematics, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and the executive associate dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CA&ES).
For more information, contact bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.
Cover image: A Madagascar hissing cockroach, part of the Bohart Museum of Entomology's display at the 2025 UC Davis Picnic Day. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)