That's not a butterfly!

[urbpan]

I was checking on some pest issues in the Butterfly Exhibit when a keeper told me that the Zoo Teens had found a large insect and saved it for me to look at. It turned out to be a dogday cicada, which emerged after spending 3 years as a flightless larva in the soil, sucking on the roots of trees.

I picked up the cicada (which was toward the end of its life and acting quite sluggish) which attracted the attention of some young guests. Some of the kids were really interested, some were horrified. Adults reacted with mild disgust. Keep in mind that all of these people were in an exhibit where the goal was to see large insects. Most of them spent their time in the exhibit trying to coax these large insects to land on them. And yet this cicada--as large, colorful, and harmless as the butterflies--was met with revulsion. Sometimes people are really weird.