For those of you not into museums or exploring what your city, town, or even backyard have to offer, then I encourage you to venture out a little and explore a new place. See what there is to be seen. It’s worth it.
Promise.
Both the video and the pictures were taken at the Cockrell Butterfly Center or Brown Hall of Entomology in the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
After seeing our lab gain four more pupa from the same genetic counselor that brought me mine, the lab intern exclaimed, “Ugh, Jesssiiicaaaa, I want a caterpillar! Get one for me!”
“You’re a big boy, just ask him.”
“Ugh, Jeeessssssiiiiiicaaaaaaa!!! You do it; you ask him!!”
In my family there is a no tolerance policy on whining that’s carried over into my personal whining tolerance level. I keep that level indefinitely at zero, so I tell him, “You are way too much for me right now. Seriously.”
“Oh! Nevermind, I’ve got a better idea!! Butterflies are so lame. I want a praying mantis…or maybe two…and I would make them fight. They could easily beat your butterfly…or maybe I’ll get several and then keep them together until the strongest one eats the rest. Yeah, I’ll do that.”
“So you want a whole ootheca, but will only keep the strongest one? Like a He-Mantis?”
His face illuminates after the suggestion, “Ohmygod, Yeeeesssss! I totally want a He-Mantis!! Jesssssiiiiiicaaaaa, get one for me!!”
“You’re still too much for me right now.”
Now you know what type of creatures lurk around the corners of your front door in the middle of the night. The Malaysian suggested I take some macro shots of snails. I did. Along with the slime, I captured this guy crawling amongst the snails after a storm.
