Insect zoo encourages kids’ exploration of science

Hundreds of little legs marched across Logan McGrath’s cradled hand.

The Naperville 5-year-old inspected a desert millipede, one in a collection of exotic critters like the Madagascar hissing cockroach to recently visit the DuPage Children’s Museum.

Kids teetered on their tiptoes to observe the creatures in their faux habitats at the Naperville museum’s second annual Insect Zoo.

“Kids are natural scientists,” said Logan’s mom, Leah. “They’re curious and they want to learn.”

And they weren’t too startled by some of the defense mechanisms the bugs use to scare off predators. The giant vinegarroon, for instance, featured a stinger resembling a scorpion’s.

“It’s probably the most intimidating,” said Tom Dobrinska, a technical director at Anderson Pest Solutions who offered an antenna-by-antenna guide to each insect. “I have a special place for him in my heart.”

Most of the squeals erupted at the beginning of a line approaching the zoo where parents tried to tell their children to wait patiently for their chance to poke at the insects.

Besides learning a bit about each bug, kids heard a conservation message from the experts at Anderson Pest Solutions. They encouraged about 80 people at the zoo to use natural solutions for pest problems by distributing marigold seeds. When planted, the fluffy flowers repel mosquitoes.

“We’re bug lovers, which seems a little ironic,” Dobrinska, of Park Ridge, said.

And while Logan let those rusty-colored legs glide over his little fingers, his mom said her son enjoyed getting a bugs-eye view of insects found in parts of Africa and South America.

“It’s definitely exposing them to things we don’t see in the backyard,” she said.