Close up on some tropical butterflies

Admire Butterfly Art at the Bohart Museum, Davis

Tropical butterflies arranged in a spiral.I have to admit I’m not a big fan of insects; only butterflies make me smile. The Bohart Museum of Entomology on the UC Davis campus must have known the appeal of butterflies because it uses the California dogface butterfly as its logo. This museum holds the 7th largest collection of insects in North America and the 3rd largest university collection. If you are a fan of creepy critters I saw them advertise an insect zoo. I profess I did not pursue it. 112 birdwing butterflies arranged as a butterfly

On my visit I was most enchanted with the butterfly artwork. In the Spiral Galaxy of Butterflies Francisco Basso and Brittany L. Kohler arranged tropical butterflies in a swirl and floral patterns. These butterflies are from a donation that did not include collection data and therefore can’t be used for research purposes. As a fun scavenger fact, they also added a fly. Can you find it?

While the first artwork by Basso and Kohler has multiple species, the second, Birdwing Butterfly, is composed of 112 birdwing butterflies into a nymphalid. These were also donated without collection data.  

Butterfly wings painted on two pillarsA sculpture of a tardigradeFor your instagramable moment you can pose as a butterfly between two adjacent pillars with painted wings or ride on a sculpture of a Tardigrade at the entrance to the museum.

The Bohart Museum of Entomology is located at 455 Crocker Lane in Davis. Opening hours are Monday-Thursday: 9:00 am – noon and 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm. Admission is free. Or you can tour them virtually here

Are you an insect fan?

Climbing structure at the Palo Alto Junior Museum.

Crawl like a spider

Tree house, part of the plan for the new Palo Alto Junior Museum.

Temporarily, the Palo Alto Junior Museum is at Cubberly Community Center. Their old site is being renovated and expected to be ready in the summer of 2020. In the front of the Center you can see the plans they have – it looks pretty cool – e.g. a tree house!

Because of the limited space all the larger animals like bobcats and raccoons, are in the back. I was told that they do special events for members where they bring some of them out. Membership starts at $100 and relieves you of the $5 suggested donation.

Kids looking at the rats exhibit at the Palo Alto Junior Museum.

What you can see is a pretty cool insect exhibit, alive and dead. The sunburst diving beetles for example are constantly diving down in their little aquarium. I did not hear the hissing roaches hiss, but you can still marvel at their size. All the exhibits are kids height.

In the middle of the room is a spider web big enough to entertain toddlers for a while. There are also some life spiders, like a tarantula and a black widow you can look at. 

Reggie, the kingsnake, at the Palo Alto Junior Museum.

Reggie, the kingsnake, decorated his mantuary with some old skin. Enough rats to learn counting are next door to Reggie.

The Clean Green Energy Machines teach children about renewable energy. These machines are hands-on, start-to-bubble-and-spit types, which makes it fun to look at and learn.

The Junior Museum is closed on Monday, on Tuesdays to Saturdays open from 10 am – 5 pm, and Sundays from 1 pm to 4 pm.

When it comes to animal walks what creature do you resemble?