Notebaert's 'What's Eating You?' plays up ick factor
While the outdoor carnival season has ended, another kind of carnival is going on inside the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago.
It's not the sugary-funnel-cake and merry-go-round kind of carnival amusements. This one has a distinct “CSI” connection.
The new exhibit, called “Eww! What's Eating You?” focuses on fleas, ticks, tapeworms, mosquitoes and other types of creepy parasites that can irritate or hurt you. The interactive exhibit, which continues through Jan. 29, is expected to tour other major cities during the next five years with a potential 5 million museum visitors, according to the exhibit's creator, Las Vegas Exhibit IQ.
“Carnivals can be dark and mysterious places and you walk in and it could be fun or have a creepy side. That's what we think about parasites, creepy, but fascinating,” said Alvaro Ramos, museum vice president of exhibitions and museum experience.
The exhibit was created and designed by Exhibit IQ under the direction of M. Lee Goff, a forensic entomologist and technical consultant for CBS-TV's crime series drama “CSI.”
While Goff provides the scientific expertise, comedian Carrot Top serves as the exhibit's virtual guide.
The exhibit covers roughly 5,000 square feet, allowing adults and children to see life from the parasites' perspectives. You can watch a mosquito prey on a human body, go through an oversized scalp to watch head lice and roll a ball down a food tract to feed a tapeworm, among other activities.
In fact the food tract, affectionately called the colon crawl, is large enough for a second-grader to stand inside. Then there's a Wheel of Fortune-type of wheel that visitors can spin to learn about different parasites that can attack.
“Young visitors who see this just love it,” Ramos said. “It all has a vary carnivalesque feel to it and a lot of things to see and do.”
Visitors will see many recognizable parts of a carnival, including a colorful wagon, a fun house and a Ferris wheel. Up close, there are scientific displays that explain all about the parasites, said Steve Sullivan, museum curator of urban ecology.
“We want them to realize that it's all around you all the time,” Sullivan said.
Parasites also are shown living in their own environments. Even maggots and leeches, he said.
“Not too many people today have seen leeches,” Sullivan said. “That's all part of the eww factor.”
Sullivan said the exhibit will grab the attention of young and old visitors alike.
“It's a really fun exhibit with the feel, the brightness, and just to watch the families go through it already,” Sullivan said. “Ordinarily some parents will get bored at museums, but not at this exhibit.”
Another addendum exhibit, called “Feasting on Feathers: What's Eating Your Stuff?” features artifacts from the Chicago Academy of Science's 150-year-old collection and illustrates the damage pests can do over time.
“Eww! What's Eating You?”
<b>Where: </b>Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, 2430 N. Cannon Drive, Chicago
<b>Hours: </b>9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
<b>Admission: </b>$9 for adults, $6 for children ages 3 to 12 and students. Thursdays are free for Illinois residents.
<b>Information: </b>(773) 755-5100 or <a href="http://www.NatureMuseum.org" target="_blank">NatureMuseum.org</a>