This year I had the pleasure of organizing the 5th annual London Bug Day, hosted by the Entomological Society of Ontario! London Bug Day is a city-wide, all ages, insect-filled day of fun where we use various outreach activities to teach the public about the importance of our six-legged friends. This year we had over 650 visitors come see us at the London Children’s Museum, where kids and families learned how to ID insects, race our madagascar hissing cockroaches, and not-so-shamefully inhaling handfuls of crunchy flavored crickets (thanks to Entomo Farms for the hook-ups..mexican cheddar is my personal fav). With the help of 25 eager grad students, several faculty, the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory and our trusty in house stick insects, our event was one to remember! It was a blast to plan and attend, and a great testament to how universally exciting and educational the world of insects really is.
One of our worker bee grad students, John, showing off his mad ID skillz