Beetlemania at the Bohart: Something Clicked

Something clicked at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on "Beetlemania" last Sunday afternoon at the University of California, Davis.

But it was not the click beetles.

That "click" was the love of science in general, and the love of beetles, in particular.

The Bohart Museum open house, from 1 to 4 p.m., drew 500 visitors, despite the fact that the event, timewise, clashed with the San Francisco 49'ers-Dallas Cowboys' 3:30 playoff game (to determine which team would advance to the National Football Conference championship game). 

Football? What's that? Or, as one Bohart associate quipped: "In sports, there's a little round ball (baseball), and a little bigger round ball (basketball) and then there's this little ball with the pointy ends (football)." (He forgot to mention the teeny-tiny round "golf" balls and the medium-sized "soccer" balls.)

So if you love both science and sports? No problem. Just arrive a little early and leave a little early to catch the game on TV.

Final score: 49'ers, 19. Cowboys, 12.

Wait, wasn't there a beetle score in there somewhere?

The Bohart Museum of Entomology, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens, including a million beetles.  Directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, the museum also houses a live "petting zoo" (Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects, tarantulas and more) and a year-around gift shop. The Bohart is open to the public from 8 a.m. to noon, and 1 to 5 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays.