Not everyone thinks bugs are cute… but what about their babies?! Just like their vertebrate counterparts, baby bugs will often elicit an “awwwwwww!” Many of the residents of the Cockrell Butterfly Center’s insect zoo were bred and raised in-house (especially Orthoptera and Phasmida). Eggs are collected and incubated until tiny little babies hatch out. Their […]
Everyone loves crayfish, or crawfish as most people I know call them. The delicious little swamp bug tantalizes the taste buds of millions of Americans every year. What most connoisseurs don’t know, however, is that the creatures we’re putting in our mouths are closely related to the pests we squash at fist sight. Recent genetic […]
Educational fun. Is that an oxymoron? At the Houston Museum of Natural Science it isn’t! Case in point: this week’s awesome schedule of activities. We have a lecture about the Bullet Train that will soon connect Houston and Dallas presented by Michael Moore, the Vice President of Texas Central, the company developing the high speed […]
Special Event – Tasty Toxic Tuesday Learn about things in nature that are potentially deadly but have been prized and eaten by humans for thousands of years. David Temple, Associate Curator of Paleontology and co-curator of the new exhibition “Death by Natural Causes” will lead this evening of gustatory mayhem. This multi-media presentation will […]
With National Pollinator Week behind us, it may be easy to focus on other issues and forget that pollinators need our help to bounce back. While many people only envision little honeybees when they think about pollinators, they couldn’t be a more diverse group of animals, including mammals, birds, insects, and even reptiles! Here […]
We all know that after a trip to the museum, you walk away armed with knowledge, filled with wonder and inspired to learn even more. But, let’s be honest, it’s pretty nice to get a new prof pic out of the whole endeavor. Our new exhibit Death by Natural Causes is packed with information about […]
In 2013 a unique aberration made its appearance at the Cockrell Butterfly Center. A Great Southern White (Ascia monuste) butterfly emerged from its chrysalis with a perfect bilateral split down the center of its body. One side of the butterfly was male, the other was female. Since the Great Southern White is a sexually dimorphic […]
Every year on Valentine’s Day, we in the Cockrell Butterfly Center like to think about all our favorite insects and the methods they use to find mates. From special pheromones to elaborate mating rituals, every insect has a way to find a mate (or more often, multiple mates)! It’s the smell that counts […]
A trilobite changed my life. I know what you’re thinking, “Say what? That’s just crazy!” No, it’s true. Please let me explain. I’ve worked at the Houston Museum of Natural Science for close to half my life. Truth be told, the Museum has been a part of my life even longer than that, […]
By Theresa Freiburger, Horticulturalist/Greenhouse Manager at the Cockrell Butterfly Center Mimicry, in the biological sense, is when an animal closely resembles another animal or plant. Mimicry happens in all shapes and colors throughout the animal kingdom. Some mimic the environment, like a leaf or a stick, while others have evolved to mimic other insects. What […]
