Blog post written by Willow Bend intern Laura Sherrill
On Saturday at Willow Bend we learned all about amazing arthropod creatures. An arthropod is an animal that does not have a backbone, but does have an exoskeleton and a segmented body. There are many familiar animals that fall into the arthropod family. When you think of arthropods, imagine insects like cockroaches, arachnids like tarantulas, and crustaceans like crabs.
We were lucky enough to get up close and personal with all sorts of arthropods during this event. Our friends from Merriam-Powell NAU brought many creatures for us to meet, learn about, and even hold. Everyone got a huge kick out of being able to hold a millipede, who woke up and wiggled around to say hi to us despite being a nocturnal creature. If we listened closely, we could hear a faint “hissssss” sound coming from a hissing cockroach. We even got to see a live tarantula!
After getting to learn about our arthropod friends, we went outside with nets to catch and release insects that live near the Willow Bend center. Surveying the results of a few catching expeditions proved that so many different creatures live right outside of our front door. The world of arthropods is truly amazing, expansive, and there is so much to be learned about our animal friends! If you missed out on this event, be sure to keep an eye out for more upcoming animal themed events, like our Birds of a Feather Science Saturday!
