This Girl!

One sure-fire way to make me smile is by introducing me to any young person who is passionate about something. It matters little to me exactly what the subject of their fascination is, but that they are enthusiastic and eager to share what they know. Young people energize elders who have expertise but have become lethargic and cynical of the future in their fields of authority. Meanwhile, children learn even more from those willing to mentor them.

Earlier this month I had the occasion to meet Miss Abigail Nilson-Bartlett, brought to a membership meeting of the Mile High Bug Club by her dad, Ryan, on February 12. They travelled to and from a Denver suburb to our Colorado Springs meeting location. I am not sure who was happier they did: Me or them.

Abigail, at seven years old, firmly asserts that "I am an arachnologist," and I believe her. She can pronounce the word, and then back it up with information that is not widespread knowledge for anyone outside of arachnology. She keeps a couple of pet tarantulas at home, caring for them judiciously such that they are comfortable and healthy, and handled only occasionally. In fact, she wants people to know that "I have a caring for bugs. When they are hurt I care of them well until they are healed. I am a bug doctor and try to help when I can." Her favorite non-spider arthropod is the "rainbow stag beetle."

She considers her greatest accomplishment so far to be assisting her father in a search for wild tarantulas in southeast Colorado. She met Dr. Paula Cushing, one of the premier professional arachnologists in the world, when she accompanied Ryan to volunteer at the twentieth International Congress of Arachnology that was held in Golden, Colorado in 2016. Dr. Cushing is a tough act to follow, but at least I could provide Abigail with a signed copy of my field guide.

During the course of our Mile High Bug Club meeting I made a presentation entitled "Wasp/Not Wasp," an interactive PowerPoint in which the audience is invited to determine which of two images depicts a wasp. Most slides were of a wasp and a complimentary "mimic" like a fly or a moth, but some displayed two wasps, or two mimics. Abigail participated with great enthusiasm, and was often correct in her answers. After listening to me explain the "nth" example of some wasp or mimic that preys on spiders, she asked why it is that there are so many insects that kill her beloved spiders. I can totally empathize. I often ask that about crocodiles and mantids that are shown over-and-over in the media eating some animal I like a lot more. Anyway, I did my best to explain that every species has its role in the biosphere and we have to respect that even if we don't like it. "Like ecology?" she asked. All of us older people were dumbstruck because we were at least teenagers before we learned that word. "Yes," I replied after regaining my faculties, "that's the framework that everything fits in. Yes."

L-R: Amelia, Ryan, Abigail

Abigail's slightly older sister Amelia is an accomplished gymnast, but is also interested in natural history. Trips to far-flung gymnastic meets allow the whole family to explore new cities and have travel adventures along the way. They recently returned from Santa Fe, New Mexico, in fact.

It has been awhile since I have either made myself available to mentor students and children, or been afforded the opportunity, and I am grateful to the MHBC for providing a way to do that. We have other young people participating in club events, and I hope that continues to expand. I urge my readers to seek out organizations, events, and other avenues through which they can be mentors as well, whether in entomology or any other career or recreational pursuit. We need to repair trust to where it was when we were growing up. We are the village now, but we have to prove ourselves as responsible adults who truly have the interests of children and their families at heart.

Thank you, Abigail, for helping restore my faith in our next generation of human beings, regardless of whatever they become professionally when they "grow up." You already have a mature sense of self-confidence, and social skills I wish I had myself at your age.

Book Review: What Are You Doing Up There, You Spider?

It takes a special kind of parent to turn their child's experiences and perspective into a book for other children and their parents, but Peter O'Brien succeeds with the 26-page book What Are You Doing Up There, You Spider?. Together with illustrator Carlo Sitaro, he delivers a captivating story that also introduces children to spider biology and behavior.

I know Peter's wife, Louise Lynch, and when she approached me to have a look at the book I was a bit skeptical. Peter is best known for excellence in filmmaking, including directing, but I was not familiar with his writing skills. If this children's book is any indication, he is an exceptionally versatile creative person. The story is true right down to the speech patterns of young children. I initially found the book title awkward, and I kept omitting the second "you" in the title when I read it; but that is exactly how children talk, and I could easily imagine each encounter of the human character, Liam, with the spider.

The rhyming style of the text is sophisticated and sometimes oblique, which I find refreshing. The author clearly assumes his audience is up to the challenge, and does not "dumb down" the prose and poetry. This book achieves both vocabulary lessons and cultivates an appreciation of spiders, even indoors where they are generally not welcome. The book inspires curiosity and observation, admirable qualities in human beings of any age. Parents will learn as much as their children from this book.

Liam is inspired by a real-life Liam, nephew to Louise, and I suspect that the fictional character is true to his living inspiration. I see a little of myself in Liam, too, from when I was a curious child.

Juvenile literature about natural history subjects is too often fraught with errors, or presented in a less-than-enthralling manner, or both. This is a unique introduction to arachnids in story form that will not frighten children, but encourage them to seek their own discoveries.

What Are You Doing Up There, You Spider? is available in paper for $9.95 U.S. through Create Space; and also through Amazon for an electronic Kindle copy.

A "SASI" Organization

Last Monday, April 19, I was asked to help at an educational event presented by a local organization known as the Sonoran Arthropod Studies Institute (SASI for short). Emily Francis, John Rhodes, Barb Skye, and myself entertained four busloads of third and fourth graders from the Hopi Elementary School in Scottsdale, Arizona. We all convened at a ramada (shelter) in Reid Park near the center of Tucson.

John Rhodes (pictured above), a retired teacher, furnished many live insects, spiders, scorpions, and other invertebrates from his personal collection. He has some of the healthiest, most magnificent arachnids and insects I have ever seen in captivity, like the bark scorpion (Centruroides sculpturatus), vinegaroon (Mastigoproctus giganteus), and cactus longhorn beetle (Moneilema gigas) pictured below.

SASI was founded in 1986 as a non-profit organization by Steve Prchal. Its headquarters is located within Pima County’s Tucson Mountain Park, just west of Tucson. The facilities, which mostly serve researchers, include a pinned collection, library, live specimens for educational outreach programs, and 350 acres of classic Sonoran Desert landscape.

The program for which SASI is best known is the annual Invertebrates in Education and Conservation Conference, held in Rio Rico, Arizona at the end of July, beginning of August. This meeting, formerly known as the Invertebrates in Captivity Conference (informally as “Bugs in Bondage”), attracts keepers and managers from live invertebrate exhibits in zoos and butterfly houses all over the world. A second conference, Medical Entomology Today, will have its debut in January, 2011 in Tucson.

Back to the Hopi Elementary event. A total of 140 children and adults enjoyed the many cool critters displayed, and hands-on activities, as well as a pizza dinner. This was the last stop on a one-day, whirlwind tour that included Biosphere II and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. I was amazed the kids had any energy left. The adults did a most outstanding job of herding the students, who were back on the buses before we could blink. Many thanks to all involved for making the ninety minutes go off without a hitch.

Perhaps you would like to learn more about SASI? Please visit them at sasionline.org, and also at their “fan page” on Facebook. You can also direct questions here if you like.