--- title: Giant Insect Ambassadors for the Rainforest | TIME description: The Insect Discovery Lab in San Francisco puts giant walking sticks and millipedes into kids' hands to teach about habitat destruction canonical: https://time.com/video/EE1L3Qy7/ og:title: Giant Insect Ambassadors for the Rainforest og:description: The Insect Discovery Lab in San Francisco puts giant walking sticks and millipedes into kids' hands to teach about habitat destruction og:url: https://time.com/video/EE1L3Qy7/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/EE1L3Qy7/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Giant Insect Ambassadors for the Rainforest twitter:description: The Insect Discovery Lab in San Francisco puts giant walking sticks and millipedes into kids' hands to teach about habitat destruction twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/EE1L3Qy7/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Giant Insect Ambassadors for the Rainforest > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Giant Insect Ambassadors for the Rainforest [Watch (HLS stream): Giant Insect Ambassadors for the Rainforest](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EE1L3Qy7.m3u8) (4:46)  _Published 2009-10-21. The Insect Discovery Lab in San Francisco puts giant walking sticks and millipedes into kids' hands to teach about habitat destruction_ --- Jul 27, 2023 1:14 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Feeding Madagascar: Inside an Edible Insect Farm](/video/wuqVpFoZ/) ### Feeding Madagascar: Inside an Edible Insect Farm [Insect Experts Say People Should Calm Down About the Threat of 'Murder Hornets'](/video/gHuzGvp3/) ### Insect Experts Say People Should Calm Down About the Threat of 'Murder Hornets' [FAQ: Do Flies, Mosquitoes, or Other Insects Carry or Transmit the COVID-19 Virus?](/video/rSZQvgln/) ### FAQ: Do Flies, Mosquitoes, or Other Insects Carry or Transmit the COVID-19 Virus? --- ## Transcript >> This alien- looking creature isn't something you're likely to find in your backyard, unless you live in Malaysia. It's a giant thorny phasmid, a type of walking stick, and this particular insect is an ambassador. To really get people turned on to nature, you can't just go save it in some faraway place; you have to really put it into their hands. >> Norman Gershenz is director and co- founder of San Francisco's insect discovery lab. >> These are all females. >> The lab brings insects from around the world into schools and senior centers to give people an experience they can't get from books and pictures. >> So, this was just born last night. >> I think what we should do, is to look at one that I have right here. This is just a spectacular animal. And when people see this, they'd think " My goodness, we would hate to see something like this disappear from the earth ." So, I'll tell you what. Roll up your sleeve just a little bit. And, when it starts to walk, because that's what she does-- >> She? Sorry ma'am. >> And, just sort of, let him-- let her-- excuse me-- walk about. If you look at her face-- >> So alien- >> her face, actually, was used as a template in the first Star Wars movie. >> Oh! I know that. I know the one you're talking about. >> To develop some of the alien creatures. >> What does this animal eat? >> Oh, it eats-- >> As it climbs around me-- >> Well, it's harmless, first of all. It's pretty harmless. So, when people ask me, " Is this animal endangered ?" I answer it this way, " Well, we're not 100 percent sure. We haven't done enough research yet. But, what we do know, is, the forests are endangered ." >> The insect discovery lab is not just about show and tell. >> This is called a whip- tail scorpion or whip scorpion. >> Its main purpose is to raise awareness and money to save these creatures by protecting their habitats. >> Once I started working in the zoos, I realized the value they had for the public. But, the piece that they weren't doing yet was linking what you are seeing in the [ unk ] zoo to saving it in the wild. >> So, Norman started collecting money from conservation parking meters, at zoos, aquariums, and museums, to buy acres of rainforest, the home for these weird insects and millions of other creatures. >> There's nothing like a giant African millipede. This is from Africa, probably a female. They're hot. Now, I have to tell you, that it's hard to sex millipedes, and they're not very fund of you sexing them. >> Okay. >> So, but put both hands flatly right. So, first, you need to know the basic difference between millipedes and centipedes. Millipedes-- >> Centipedes have 100 legs and millipedes have 1000. >> Well, No! No, no. That was just on jeopardy, and I have to say I think I should call them and tell them truth. It's very simple. On every single segment of a millipede, there are four legs. Centipedes only have one pair, so they have two legs per segment. >> Okay. >> Now, I don't know if young kids will be watching this. But-- I'm not sure if I can talk about millipede reproduction; they have it hands down. They have figured out so many ways like asexual reproduction. >> Oh! >> And-- >> Left me a little present-- >> Well, you know, millipedes poop just like everybody else. >> Oh! >> And, maybe there's more-- >> Not every creature in the insect discovery lab comes from such an exotic location. Some, like the darkling beetle, can be found anywhere, even in your backyard; and then, there's the lover grasshopper. >> And, you would think that this comes from some mystical, tropical place on earth. It comes from the everglades of Florida. The secret is in the color. If you're green, everything wants to eat you. When you have red, yellow, orange, and black, you see it all the time and it means don't eat me, I could be poisonous, I could taste terrible. >> So I suppose the take away message here is " Never wear green ". But seriously, the lover grasshopper's warning coloration and the giant thorny phasmids' camouflage are just a couple examples of the great diversity and creativity of nature; a diversity Norman and his group help to protect, one cool bug encounter at a time. >> We do over 800 programs every year. >> Wow. >> There is no one across the country that does that many programs and links it to saving nature. >> Yes. So, your bugs are ambassadors, huh? >> They are total ambassadors. >> Brian Malow for TIME. com, San Francisco. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Giant Insect Ambassadors for the Rainforest","description":"The Insect Discovery Lab in San Francisco puts giant walking sticks and millipedes into kids' hands to teach about habitat destruction","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/EE1L3Qy7/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2009-10-21T15:08:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EE1L3Qy7.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/EE1L3Qy7/","duration":"PT4M46S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/EE1L3Qy7/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```