APRIL 4, 2001
INSECT EXHIBIT OPENING AT 
CABLE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM 

Imagine a planet where one group of animals makes up nearly 90 percent of all inhabitants. These animals have developed sophisticated means of communication, navigation, defense, housing, agriculture, hunting, and social structure. Some of them create light from chemicals, use jet propulsion for locomotion, and engage in chemical warfare. Many are incredibly strong, easily able to lift 50 times their own body weight. Others can survive intense heat or freezing temperatures indefinitely. They reproduce prolifically and fill just about every ecological niche on the planet.

These animals are insects, and their home planet is earth.

Insects dominate our world, but most people know little about these tiny animals. The Cable Natural History Museum explores the fascinating world of insects in a new exhibit "Planet of the Insects," which opens with a free public reception at 4:00 p.m. May 26, 2001.

The exhibit will introduce visitors to the incredible diversity of insects; explore the natural history of insects throughout geological time; highlight the ways ecosystem health and human activities such as agricultural production and medicine benefit from insect activity; and examine the dangers posed by some insects. The exhibit will feature live and preserved insect specimens, fossils and models of insects and their habitats, photographs, drawings, videos and hands-on activities for Museum visitors.

"Planet of the Insects" will run through May 2002. For further information, contact the Museum at (715) 798-3890 or e-mail: email@cablemuseum.org.