The New Children’s Museum has GONE BUGGY!

Hurry! Spineless Wonders will be leaving TCM after the end of August!

 

Spineless Wonders

Our latest exhibits will let you get up close and personal with our buggy friends and discover just how unique they truly are. Learn what makes an animal an arthropod, discover their unique adaptation to a multitude of environments and watch as they exhibit their abilities to camouflage, defend and even fly.

Spineless Wonders is now open in our main exhibit hall. Featuring arthropods from around the world, these creatures vary from the strikingly beautiful to the creepiest of crawlers. Arthropods are a diverse group of animals that include insects, spiders, crustaceans, millipedes and centipedes. And now, these spineless wonders are at The New Children’s Museum.

Here’s some more information about our latest residents:

• Arthropods are subdivided into 4 different groups, or subphylum:

1. Chelicerates (spiders, scorpions, etc.)
2. Crustaceans (lobsters, crabs, shrimp, etc.)
3. Myriapods (millipedes and centipedes)
4. Hexapods, or insects, which make up 90% of arthropods

• There are over 1 million documented species of arthropods, but scientists theorize there may be as many as 30 million species which have yet to be discovered
• The largest arthropod is the King Crab, with a 12-foot armspan
• Many arthropods are microscopic and cannot be seen by the human eye
• The name Arthropod means “jointed foot”
• Arthropods are, by definition, invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, jointed appendages, and a segmented body. They are bilaterally symmetrical.
• Arthropods constitute over 85% of the animal kingdom
• Arthropods have been on earth for nearly 428 million years