Mr. Bug

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

Mr. Bug came to visit us today. He had some really interesting bugs and animals with hime. He gave us a chance to see his animals, touch them, and learn how they live in the wild.
First of all he showed us his millipedes. They have 250 legs, these huge ones come from Africa and love to eat compost. We got to touch the millipede, and to see how he manages to move so many legs without falling over.
Next we saw giant snails, also from Africa. They love to eat bananas and fruit. They have no jaws so they can only lick their food. It must take a long time to eat an apple! We each got to hold one of the 6 snails, after spraying our hands with water so it our hands would feel nice to the snails. They felt tickly (which Matt told us was the snail licking us).The Burmese python came out next. He was lovely to look at and to touch - not at all slimey or cold. We know that he is so shiny because he sheds his skin every time he starts to grow. Matt had the shedded skin of a boa constrictor for us all to see...It was huge! Scorpions can sting. They have a stinger on the ends of their tails. They are shy animals but sometimes hide in shoes and boots, then sting the person who stands on them when they are putting on their boots. We don't have any scorpions in Ireland. We know that big claws mean small stings and small claws mean big stings. This scorpion had big claws and a small sting. He has 8 legs and 8 eyes so he is an arachnid - a cousin of the spiders. We looked at him but didn't touch.The tarantula spider is another spider who hurts. He has a nasty bite, although it wouldn't kill a human. The one we got to see today was very hairy, was huge and had bigger spinners from his bum for spinning webs, and huge teeth for biting his food. This spider also sheds his skin, but it is very hard when it is shed, unlike the softer snake skin. Matt showed us an old skin that this tarantula had before he got too big for it.
The last animal that we saw was a tegu lizard - tegu means lizard in a South American language. This lizard was lovely to touch. He smells using his tongue which is forked in 2. He grows to be very big. This little lizard was still young - only 3 years old.
We really enjoyed learning all about these animals and bugs. We loved looking at them, and touching and holding them. Thanks to Matt - Mr. Bug who gave us such a great show, and to the Galway Science festival for sending us Mr. Bug during Science Week.