The Bakersfield Voice

Bug Zoo

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By Janet Needham
Community contributor

Bakersfield Bug Zoo is now open at the Golden State Mall, 3201 F St., Suite 140. A visit to this must-see zoo offers visitors an excellent opportunity to view and experience multi-legged creatures in a safe, fun and friendly atmosphere.
Get up close and personal with LIVE giant centipede, alien-eyed praying mantises and hairy tarantulas, to name a few. For an educational entertainment experience, be sure to crawl, fly or wriggle your way to the Bug Zoo.
Bakersfield’s Bug Zoo offers an interactive experience for visitors, where they can experience the sights, sounds and smells of live creepy crawlies, including giant cockroaches, beetles, walking sticks, praying mantids, centipedes, millipedes, scorpions and tarantulas.
Garden spiders may not be your cup of tea, but seeing a goliath tarantula, which can grow to a foot in diameter, might captivate your inner child — or any child!
Bakersfield’s Bug Zoo is a microcosmic world of bugs — all busily crawling, buzzing, gnawing, and in general, doing what bugs do. From behind the safe barrier of a glassed enclosure, you can get within inches, if you want.
Some insects are harmful to humans by spreading disease, infecting our homes and eating our crops and stored food. However, most insects are harmless and beneficial.
Insects play a large role in pollinating many important food crops as well as our flower gardens. They decompose dead plant and animal matter, which helps to recycle nutrients back into the earth. The burrowing and tunneling activity of many insects aerates and mixes the soil.
Insects are a food source for wildlife — and even for people — in many countries. Insect products like honey, wax, silk, shellac and dye are an important economic source in most countries.
Some insects are even important in the development of genetic and scientific research.
Without insects, the earth as we know it would not survive!
Zoo hours are: Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $3 per person for a self -guided tour; children 2 and under admitted free.
For more information, call 323-7100 or visit: www.bakersfieldsbugzoo.com.
To learn about tarantulas go to BugZoo’s blog at: www.bakersfieldvoice.com/home/Blog/BugZoo/48263; to learn more about praying mantises go to: www.bakersfieldvoice.com/home/Blog/BugZoo/48262. To receive a $1 off admission coupon (good for up to six people) valid until Sept. 30 go to: http://www.bakersfieldsbugzoo.com/MonthlyCoupon.html