On Sunday, Mustard and I helped out at our University's Open Day. This is the day when the university puts on displays and has presentations about the different degrees on offer. It attracts a lot of year 11 and 12 students who are trying to work out what they want to do after school, but also families and general public who are curious about what the uni has been doing.
I ran a display about insects (of course) and we even had some live stick insects hanging around for people to hold. Stick insects make awesome pets - they can be easy to look after and friendly to handle. The stick insect Mustard is holding in the picture above is Extatosoma tiaratum, commonly known as a 'spiny leaf insect'. It has been suggested that they rear their abdomen up in the air to make them look like a scorpion, perhaps as defence against predators. They also have great camouflage, disguising themselves as a dried up gum leaf. Can you think of other animals that use camouflage to hide from predators?
I really enjoyed studying a science degree, and it was fun to talk to lots of high school students about what they were interested in and how they might pursue that! It's now Monday again so we're back to work learning to identify wasps and finishing off our project proposal.
I ran a display about insects (of course) and we even had some live stick insects hanging around for people to hold. Stick insects make awesome pets - they can be easy to look after and friendly to handle. The stick insect Mustard is holding in the picture above is Extatosoma tiaratum, commonly known as a 'spiny leaf insect'. It has been suggested that they rear their abdomen up in the air to make them look like a scorpion, perhaps as defence against predators. They also have great camouflage, disguising themselves as a dried up gum leaf. Can you think of other animals that use camouflage to hide from predators?
I really enjoyed studying a science degree, and it was fun to talk to lots of high school students about what they were interested in and how they might pursue that! It's now Monday again so we're back to work learning to identify wasps and finishing off our project proposal.