New Page 0

Science Week 2003 Program

BIG BUGS in the BI-CON

During Science Week 2003 the Botanic Garden of Adelaide in partnership with Bugs n Slugs presented a special exhibition of tropical rainforest invertebrates. The venue for this program was the Bicentennial Conservatory which showcases the flora of tropical northern Australia and South-East Asia. The exhibition was open to the general public on weekends while school groups booked in for guided tours during the week.

(Picture: Steve Meredith)	Botanic Garden and Bugs n Slugs stall for the South Australian Science Week 2003 launch at the South Australian Museum.
Our mini beasts were very popular with the many school students visiting the launch of Science Week 2003	(Picture: Steve Meredith)
(Picture: Steve Meredith)	Displays featuring brush-footed trapdoor spiders to the left, a tropical huntsman spider in the centre and rainforest freshwater crabs on the right.
These displays in the entrance area of the conservatory exhibited stick and leaf insects on small branches. There was no glass between insects and visitors.	(Picture: Steve Meredith)
(Picture: Steve Meredith)	In front of the green tree ant exhibit, Frank is explaining to students the amazing work and social cooperation accomplished by these ants when weaving their leaf nests.
A close-up of the green tree ant nest and workers maintaining the structure. The white parts in the image is silk produced by ant larvae and used to glue leaves together.	(Picture: Steve Meredith)
(Picture: Steve Meredith)	Near the ants, there were three displays dedicated to the animals that many of us fear and dislike ... scorpions, centipedes and millipedes. Interpretation concentrated on ecology, basic morphology and behaviour of these animals.