"Live, from the Bohart Museum! It's Wednesday Morning Live!"
Well, it wasn't quite like that, but close, when Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart and professor of entomology at UC Davis, greeted KUIC listeners. The station, based in Vacaville, serves the surrounding area, including Solano and Yolo counties.
Bugs and laughter abounded.
KUIC host Barbara Hoover, the station's direct marketing coordinator, experienced bugs galore. All good. The Bohart, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus, is home to nearly eight million insect specimens, plus a live "petting zoo," comprised of such critters as Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and taranatulas.
As Hoover and Kimsey conversed on the air, senior museum scientist Steve Heydon summoned Madagascar hissing cockroaches to hiss for the KUIC listeners. The hissers, however, had other ideas. The Sound and the Fury? No, the Sound and the Scurry, as the hissers crawled up Hoover's arm.
Then entomologist/Bohart associate Wade Spencer, a UC Davis undergraduate student, introduced Hoover to Coco McFluffin, a Chaco golden knee tarantula that's a crowd favorite. Spencer assured her it's been held more than 2000 times. Now 2001.
Hoover also met a walking stick, which did what walking sticks do. Walk. Up. Her. Arm.
Meanwhile, the Bohart Museum scientists--along with Coco McFluffin--are gearing up for the sixth annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, to be held Saturday, Feb. 18 when 12 campuswide collections will be showcased in a family-friendly, science-based day set from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. And it's all free--free admission, free parking, and free encounters with the scientists. Food will be available for purchase.
The event will "showcase natural history, biodiversity and the cultural-ecological interface," said Biodiversity Museum Day coordinator Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum of Entomology. All collections are within walking distance on campus except for the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road for the Raptor Center on Old Davis Road.
The following will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.:
- Arboretum and Public Garden, headquartered on LaRue Road
- Bohart Museum of Entomology, Academic Surge Building
- California Raptor Center, Old Davis Road
- Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Academic Surge Building
- Paleontology Collection, Earth and Physical Sciences Building
- Phaff Yeast Culture Collection, Earth and Physical Sciences Building
- Viticulture and Enology Culture Collection, Earth and Physical Sciences Building
The following will be open from noon to 4 p.m.:
- Anthropology Museum, Young Hall
- Botanical Conservatory, greenhouses along Kleiber Hall Drive
- Center for Plant Diversity, Sciences Lab Building
- Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, Bee Biology Road
- Nematode Collection, Sciences Lab Building
Visitors can download a map from the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day website.
Attached Images:
Oh, no, an escapee! Lynn Kimsey (left), director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and KUIC host Barbara Hoover share a laugh as a Madagascar hissing cockroach decides not to star but to escape. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Steve Heydon, senior museum scientist at the Bohart Museum, introduces KUIC's Barbara Hoover to a walking stick--and it started walking up her arm. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Tabatha Yang (far left), education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart, entomologist and Bohart associate Wade Spencer, entomology student at UC Davis, introduce KUIC's Barbara Hoover to a tarantula named Coco McFluffin. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Camaraderie: Distinguished emeriti professors from the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology with Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart and professor of entomology. With her (from left) are Harry Kaya, Robert Washino and Robbin Thorp. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This was the scene at the start of the KUIC/Bohart coffee break--a mixture of bugs on the wall and sweets on the table. At far left is Extension apiculturist emeritus Eric Mussen. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)