Today, as per my zoology assignment, i went to a bug fair at the LA county museum of natural history. it was surprisingly crowded. you could buy bugs (alive or dead), and bug paraphernalia. it was pretty amazing, the colors and variations in structure are incredible. i have grown a minor fascination with beetles over the period of this class, and am considering continuing a collection. one native california beetle that i saw in a book and wanted for my own was the desert ironclad beetle. he is actually blacker than he appears in the photos but he does have a gunmetal finish that makes the rows of bumps on his carapace really stand out. he's about an inch and a half, and i'm calling him erwin (after erwin rommel "the desert fox" who was a tank commander on the wrong side of WWII-this should not indicate nazi sympathy, just well thought out naming).
in non bug related news, the museum has an incredible bird collection, and a large area devoted to the peculiarities of bird life (flight, sight, feathers, songs, eggs, hollow bones, etc.) as a bird fancier i was very impressed (take that new york natural history museum).
this summer (After i barely pass calculus with the lowest "c" possible) i have no summer school, for the first time in 6 years. so to celebrate, i applied for a new job, or rather another job. the zoo i volunteer at has a zoo camp in the summer, and i applied for a job at it. it should be good experience working with kids, plus all the camp songs i can sing-does the marine corps hymn count?!- and the pay is pretty good, but i believe that it is only for six weeks. although i am told by other employees at the zoo that it is a good way to get your foot in the door for a full time "regular" job there. that's all well and good, but for now i think it would be a nice way to fill my summer (and potentially my bank account) and keep me out of youth gangs and the like.
7 comments:
Did they play Beatle music and confiscate Raid cans at the door? M
oddly enough it was sponsored by western exterminators and at the front door was a man in a fuzzy termite suit advertising pest control and handing out stickers-which just seemed mildly inappropriate.
i would have left sooner if they had beatles music playing.
i was sorta hoping for a beetle-mania comment... but alas...
Ahem.... at least I write about my spouse. You write about bugs. LOL That's really cool - never even heard of such a thing as a "bug fair." I'm fascinated. And completely grossed out.
Where does Erwin sleep and What do you feed him? We are not allowed to have pets in our apartment so I had to ask all of our bugs to find a different place, but when you visit you don't have to hesitate to bring Erwin.
annine
i keep him in a small plastic aquarium/critter keeper. and he is herbivorous: so whatever spare plant matter we have around the place. the nice thing is that he is from the desert so he doesn't expect too much food, and gets all his water from that. so he's low maintenance.
Having just found out that the desert buy is part of the family... welcome. I thought he would sleep in a bug-bed. It's an odd thing to BUY a bug at a bug fair, thinks I. M
why? you buy arts and crafts at a craft fair. you can buy pets at a pet fair. you buy lazy at a laissez faire and counts at a county fair (mebbe not the last one)and let us not forget tacky crap at the renaissance fair.(which has only recently been changed from "the tacky crap fair")
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