Some 2000 visitors fan into the Academic Surge Building, home of the Bohart Museum and the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology.
The Bohart Museum is the home of a global collection of eight million insect specimens. It's seventh insect collection in North America.
On BioDivDay, 15 Bohart activity stations lined the hallway. Bug enthusiasts learned about spiders, ants, flies, bees, butterflies, moths and more. They held tenants from the live petting zoo--Madagascar hissing cockroaches and stick insects (walking sticks)--and took cell phone images.
A neon poster next to the spider display read:
"Ask us questions.
SPIDERS.
And 8-legged friends.
Arachnology.
Bond lab."
"Museum Guidelines. Be curious! Avoid saying:
Ewww!
Ick!
Gross!
Yuck!"
Nobody said "ick, gross, yuck or ewww" (at least within our earshot). The crowd came curious. Some wore football attire in preparation for the Super Bowl the following day. All wore smiles or inquisitive expressions.
New director of the Bohart Museum is professor and arachnologist Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and associate dean, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Bond succeeds UC Davis distinguished professor emerita Lynn Kimsey, who served as director from 1999 until Jan. 31, retiring on Feb. 1. Kimsey continues her research and as executive director of the Bohart Museum Society.
The Bohart Musuem participated in the Biodiversity Day with Anthropology Museum, Arboretum and Public Garden, Bohart Museum of Entomology, Botanical Conservatory, California Raptor Center, Center for Plant Diversity, Nematode Collection, Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Paleontology Collection, and Phaff Yeast Culture Collection. Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator of the Bohart Museum, chaired the Bioddiversity Museum Day Committee.
The next open house at the Bohart Museum will be from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, March 3. The theme: "Grasshoppers,Crickets and Katydids." A talk is planned from 1 to 2 p.m., with the museum open from 2 to 4 p.m.
The Bohart Museum also is planning its annual open house for the annual UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday, April 20.
Founded in 1946 by UC Davis professor Richard Bohart, the insect museum is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane. More information is on its website or by contacting bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.
Attached Images:
UC Davis professor Jason Bond, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, shows butterly specimens to Woodland residents Olive Smith, 8, and her mother Sarah Smith. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Doctoral student Iris Quayle of the Jason Bond lab answers questions about spiders at the Biodiversity Museum Day at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey (left) of the Department of Entomology and Nematology and postdoctoral researcher Severyn Korneyev, a Ukrainian entomologist who studies flies, answer questions from visitors at the Bohart Museum open house. Korneyev holds a joint appointment with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and the California Department of Food and Agriculture. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Professor and ant specialist Phil Ward and lab members answer question about ants. With him are doctoral candidate Ziv Lieberman and research assistant Brittany Kohler, who seeks to enroll as a doctoral student at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Margo Rubin, 5, squints to get a better look through the microscope. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)