By Bethany Bray
Staff Writer
February 07, 2008 02:52 pm A tarantula, praying mantis, Madagascar hissing cockroaches and other creepy crawlies visited the children's room at the Boxford Village Library last week — much to the delight of a circle of youngsters attending a presentation by bug expert Andrea Kozol. Kozol brought the live insects for the children to learn about and, in some cases, touch or hold. Most of the mothers in the room sat toward the back of the room, as far away from the bugs as possible. Their children sat on the floor, eagerly watching for which bug Kozol would bring out next. "They were kind of cool, but the last one was creepy," said 11-year-old Jane McGrath of the bugs, and Kozol's last specimen, a whip-tail scorpion. Even though bugs usually aren't her favorite thing, Jane said she had a good time at the library presentation. The children learned how to tell the difference between an insect (wings, antennae, six legs) and an arachnid (eight legs), and that bugs have exoskeletons. This means their hard shells are their bones, carried on the outside of their bodies. Kozol's Madagascar hissing cockroaches lived up to their name after she popped the top off of their plastic container, revealing several of the 2-inch bugs. As she picked them up, they let out a hissing noise. When the roaches hiss, it's their way of saying, "Don't eat me!" said Kozol. Holding a large, bright green bug, Kozol explained that the praying mantis, a carnivore, uses its green color as camouflage, not only from predators, but from prey. As she brought the mantis around the circle for the kids to touch, one child said, "It feels like a leaf!" The children also met a 10-year-old millipede, which was about 10 inches long and had 284 legs. She put the millipede on a mat so the children could watch how its jointed legs worked. "She's not very fast, even with 284 legs," said Kozol with a laugh as the millipede inched along. "OK, that's running." Kozol also brought out a 12-year-old rose hair tarantula from Chile, and held it in her hand as she talked. The spider, which was as big as her hand, only has two teeth, called fangs, said Kozol. The fangs are hollow so poison can flow through them. Kozol is an educator with Bugworks, a Sudbury-based educational enrichment business that specializes in "living lessons with crawling creatures." Her visit was sponsored by the Friends of Boxford Libraries.
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Photos
Aaron Coppeta, 5, of Boxford gawks at a millipede during a presentation by Bugworks at the East Boxford Library. Staff Photo