Creeping and crawling at the Bug Zoo
VICTORIA, B.C. – While refined tourists sip High Tea at the Empress Hotel a few blocks away, the more adventurous visitors here play at the Victoria Bug Zoo.
Your entire family will find something to like about this unique attraction, but not everyone will want the creepy crawlers climbing up their arms. Those who do, however, are in for a pleasant surprise.
A stick bug, a Praying Mantis, a tarantula and a scorpion are just a few of the insects that the zoo tour guides gingerly remove from their cages and let visitors hold – under their watchful eye, of course.
With more than 50 different species of insects in the Bug Zoo, these guides have to know their stuff. During a recent visit, one eloquently described the mating habits of the praying mantis:
“Did you know that the female mantis bites the head off the male when they mate? Alarming as it may seem, the male mates much better without his head because he’s more focused.”
The guides are not only well trained in entomology, they also offer their own personal flair while educating visitors – and they don’t spout any canned scripts like those frequently heard at tourist attractions.
One of the most fascinating exhibits is the leaf cutter ants’ habitat. These ants hail from Trinidad and have one queen, who is the mother of every one of the 2 million ants on display. Once she mates, she’s pregnant for life, while the males die after mating.
Every one of the queen’s offspring is female. In a cross section of their underground ant colony, you can watch the female ants as they chew leaves, which they then spit out. The resulting mulch grows into a mushroom-type fungus.
These ants are farming to be self-sufficient.
You can also kiss a cockroach and wear a millipede mustache, which provide some unusual photo opportunities.
“We’re all about myth busting,” says Carol Maier, owner of the zoo and an entomologist herself, “and changing people’s attitudes about bugs.”
On your way out, stop by the gift shop and pick up some bug lollipops – with real bugs in them – flavored roasted crickets and flavored roasted larvae to take home to family and friends.
Another popular item available for purchase is the Triops, a freshwater shrimp with three eyes that you can grow in your own home.
The Triops sleep for 25 years, so if you’re on an extended vacation, that’s no problem.