Insect Aside> Entomologist’s hands-on program dispels kids’ ‘bugs are yucky’ attitute

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It was a shorts-and-shirt gang, a sandals-and-sneakers crowd. Hair was pulled back in scrunchies or cut stylishly short for the summer. Most boasted that they would be entering kindergarten or first grade in September. Several proudly displayed gap-toothed grins while others industriously wiggled loose teeth.

One recent morning, two dozen participants ranging in age from 5 to 7 provided entomologist Clay Kirby with a captive audience for his talk on insects at the Orono Public Library.

Kirby works at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension in Orono. His presentation was part of the Orono library’s summer program, “Camp Read-A-Lot,” centered on the experience of camping out. The program features guest speakers, story times, movies and craft making.

To start his presentation, the entomologist asked what special features make an insect an insect.

“They grow differenter,” said John Scott Robinson, 6. “They have four sets, four sets of growing up.”

“Very good,” Kirby encouraged. “Can you name any of the stages of a butterfly when a butterfly grows up?”

“They first start out as eggs, then larva, pupa, then grow up,” Robinson replied.

“If it’s in your garden and you have broccoli or cabbage, you might have a little green egg and then a velvety green caterpillar and then a chrysalis or pupa, which is the resting stage and then a beautiful white butterfly flying around your garden,” the scientist added.

Robinson had done his homework, watching a “Bill Nye the Science Guy” show on insects the night before. He spoke glowingly of the popular scientist, but pointed out that his father had caught him in a mistake. “Not even Bill Nye can make everything right.”

Kirby’s interest in entomology was sparked when he was not much older than his audience. “When I was in elementary school, my father gave me a book on identifying beetles, which I still use to this very day in my job.”

As a child, he lived on a dead-end street near the woods. “I spent as much time as I could outside playing with insects.”

Kirby majored in biology in college and pursued entomology in graduate school. As an insect diagnostician, he identifies insects for the state. He recommends what insects can be controlled, and makes presentations to the public on topics from pest control to insect ecology and biology. He also is involved in pesticide application training.

But what Kirby loves best is talking to children about bugs. “I love the bug stories every child has, the excitement with which they relate the details to their class or me.”

There is only one aspect of his job Kirby does not enjoy.

“Sometimes I get smashed bugs in the mail to identify. Sometimes they sit over the weekend and rot. Especially in hot weather it can be a stinky challenge to identify them.”

Kirby said it is crucial for children to learn about bugs and get beyond an impulse to smash them, noting that our lives are affected by these creatures in positive as well as negative ways. Not only do insects pollinate much of the food we eat, they also are important in recycling. “Many insects break down organic matter. They also provide great food for wildlife.”

The entomologist said there are ways parents can interest children in insects even if their peers have a “bugs are yucky” attitude.

“Take them out for a nice walk on a bright sunny day in summer. Give them time to observe insects up close and personal,” he suggested. “Sometimes adults need to take time from their busy days to be as observant as children. It can be very relaxing.”

Kirby also offered suggestions for ways parents can show their children what an important part insects play in the natural order of things.

“Take them to the woods and roll over a log. Try to count the number of insects under the log in the leaf matter. Look at the insects under the bark of a dead tree,” he said.

After several aspects of insect physiology and behavior had been agreed upon, and a lively debate about whether insects have brains, Kirby went on to display several tools of his trade: an aerial butterfly net, a sweep net for long-grass capture, and a dip-cup net for insects they could collect.

Kirby recommended that children put peanut butter jars to good use. “You can either make an insect collection or have an insect as a guest. Once you’re done observing the insects, you can let them go again. Lightning bugs are fun to have as overnight guests.”

Cries of delight greeted the display of live creatures: a giant millipede (not an insect, but closely related), a hissing cockroach from Africa (which eats dog food and makes a great pet), and a giant cockroach from Madagascar.

Children reached out eagerly to stroke the creatures, while parents declined or touched more timidly. After the giant cockroach was admired and Kirby had promised the librarians that it would not get lost, he dropped it onto the carpet several times to show how it used its wings.

Each time, the room erupted in shrieks and giggles. When it landed on Robinson, he said it felt like a leaf falling on him — not bad at all.

The cockroach’s flight was the highlight of the presentation for Joseph “Connor” O’Donnell, 7.

“The insect, the bug that had wings, fell off and went crash, smash,” he said, gesturing expansively.

Finally, Kirby directed the children’s attention to several insect collections, challenging them to guess which bugs were from the jungle and which could be caught in Maine. The children had no difficulty distinguishing local insects from those from away.

Alissa Bates, 6, was enchanted by the iridescent blue jungle butterflies. She had her own butterfly adventure recently.

“I was looking around and I saw a butterfly and I just went like this and I caught one,” she said proudly.

Kirby considers himself a lifelong student.

“It would take more than a lifetime to get a handle on the great diversity of insects. I want to get as familiar with as many insects as I can,” he said.

The scientist said that he hopes the children will come to appreciate the wonders of the insect world and its diversity. Perhaps, just as his father inspired him years ago, he is helping to shape some future entomologists.

Alissa Bates and Connor O’Donnell are seriously considering that option.