Going Green

What has six legs and is green all over?

If you think like an entomologist, that's easy.

No, Bohart Museum director Lynn Kimsey won’t be dressed as a leprechaun. The museum isn’t changing its name to the “O’Bohart.” There’s no pot of gold anywhere in the museum. No shamrocks or “Danny Boy,” either.

But, yes, there will “wearing o’ the green,” said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart.

Many insects are green.

“The live green ones are walking sticks and walking leaves,” she said. A new addition to the Bohart is a six-inch walking stick that’s a bright kelly green. “This is what inspired the St. Patrick’s Day connection,” Yang said.

*While the four-leaf clover is the luck symbol of St. Patrick’s Day, some cultures in Europe and Asia consider green crickets lucky," Yang said, "so we will have some crickets and grasshoppers from the collection on display.”*

“People will see that not all crickets are green or even brown, but they can be black or reddish or yellowish.”

Senior museum scientist Steve Heydon says he’ll feed the Madagascar hissing cockroaches some cabbage—no corned beef, though.

The first 50 visitors wearing green will receive a free Bohart Museum bookmark," Yang said.

The Bohart Museum recently extended its hours to include several Saturdays or Sundays. A Valentine’s Day theme, “What Is a Kissing Bug?”, highlighted the Saturday, Feb. 13 opening.

The next special events: the all-day UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday,  April 17 and then the cleverly named MOTH-er’s Day, in celebration of moths, on Saturday, May  8 from 1 to 5 p.m.

MOTH-er's Day is the day before the "real" Mother's Day on Sunday, May 9.

“The weekend openings are in response to working people and parents  who can't visit us during the week,” Yang said. The gift shop also  will be open. Visitors can purchase T-shirts, posters, stickers and  “insect candy,” among other items.

The Bohart, closed on Fridays, is open weekdays, Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 5 p.m. Tours can be  arranged by contacting Yang at tabyang@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-0493 or (530)-752-9464. “Due  to limited space, groups need to call ahead and book a tour other than  on the weekend openings,” she said.

The Bohart Museum, founded in 1946 by the late Richard M. Bohart,  former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, is directed by  Lynn Kimsey, professor and vice chair of the UC Davis Department of  Entomology.

Dedicated to teaching, research and service, the museum houses the  seventh largest insect collection in North America. The museum also  includes live insects such as Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking  sticks and walking leaves in the "petting zoo."