While a giant whip scorpion won’t win any beauty contest, it could certainly star in a horror movie. Even the creature’s name sounds intimidating.
“(It is) one of my favorite arachnids,” said Bryan Man – the self-styled Professor Bugman – during his Aug. 21 Arthropod Petting Zoo event at the Belmont Public Library. “It ticks all the boxes of being a living nightmare while also being such a gentle, approachable animal that would never hurt you.”
Some children at the fascinating presentation were skeptical that the scorpion was harmless, while others courageously reached out to touch the eight-legged venomless animal as Man, who has a master’s degree in entomology, brought it out to the audience.
“I started Professor Bugman Entomology Adventures in 2022 with the goal of using safe, fun, and engaging hands-on experiences to inspire interest in entomology, an interest I think we’re all born with,” he said. “One of the biggest parts of this is teaching kids that they, too, can spend their lives diving into what they love, even if it’s weird!”
Before picking up each critter, Man described the animal’s characteristics and interacted with the children so they could fully participate.
While explaining the differences between vertebrates and invertebrates, he jokingly asked several young attendees, “Can I see your bones?” Man then explained that all arthropods have exoskeletons, rather than internal skeletons like humans do.
Some of the animals were too tiny for children to touch, so he placed them on a microscope which projected a highly detailed image onto the wall. There, kids saw a blue death-feigning beetle flop onto its back and live up to its name; the fangs of a venomous house centipede we’ve all seen in our showers; and a jumping spider that was smaller than a lentil, to name a few.
Aside from a spiny Australian stick insect that is a master at camouflage, the most popular critter was the continuously pooping giant African millipede. Kids giggled as Man jokingly tried to reason with it to stop making a mess on his hands.
“I’ve seen a wide range of reactions to these bugs. But through it all, I’m always happy to see people still want to take a closer look and learn more about these animals that are as critically important to our world as they are misunderstood,” said Man.
