Join us for our biggest annual Family Day of the year - Zoology Live! INSECTOPIA - and this year it's all about (you guessed it) insects! We have a packed day of family activities including a series of expert mini-lectures in the Department of Zoology lecture theatre, plus live insects, crafts & a Museum trail plus expert-led minibeast hunts around Cambridge.
We will be joined by the Wildlife Trust and RSPB, plus the Amateur Entomologist Society will also be with us, sharing all their insect knowledge!
All FREE, just pop in. Lectures will be running throughout the day, (no need to book). The lectures will take place in the Department of Zoology, next door to the Museum.
The lectures are:
10.30-11.15 Bug Battles: Discovering the World of Insect Weaponry with Prof Christine Miller
Prof. Christine Miller is an evolutionary biologist who works with insects to discover how they evolved “weapons” to help them guard their resources and win mates. Christine will share photos and videos of insect battles, and you will learn about the diverse group of scientists working with her to improve our understanding of insect behaviour and evolution.
11.30-12.15 Tricky plant surfaces and skilful climbers with Prof Walter Federle
Most insects interact with plants, either as harmful herbivores, or beneficial pollinators and pest controllers. Plants can use slippery, spiky, or sticky surfaces to keep harmful insects away, promote beneficial ones or even catch insects as prey. Some insects have adapted to cope with even the most difficult plant surfaces. In this talk, I will show examples of insect-plant relationships where special plant surfaces and insect attachment mechanisms play an important role, including wax-running ants, puncture-resistant “fakir” caterpillars, and ants that dive for prey in the digestive fluid of pitcher plants. The mechanical adaptations of insects and plants can inspire novel technological applications.
14.00-14.45 How can we conserve “the little things that run the world?” with Prof Ed Turner, president of the Amateur Entomologist’s Society.
Prof Ed Turner is a conservation scientist who studies how humans are affecting insect numbers worldwide, and what conservationists can do to protect insects and the important processes they support in ecosystems. In this talk, Ed will discuss some of the evidence that insects are declining, looking at data from 90 years ago from the Museum of Zoology. We will then discuss ways that insects can be protected, including the important work that both the Museum of Zoology, and the Amateur Entomologist Society carry out to increase awareness of insects.
15.00-15.45 Life after death: how burying beetles breed on a dead body with Prof Becky Kilner
Leonard Tesch Lecture
Burying beetles are sometimes known as sexton beetles because they are the gravediggers of the insect world. They seek out a small newly dead animal like a mouse or songbird, bury the body and turn it into an edible nest for their larvae, who they look after diligently. This talk will reveal the extraordinary behaviours that underpin every step of their unusual breeding biology.
