Did you know there are 4,500 species of cockroaches? Have you ever seen a cockroach? Or heard one hiss? At the Discovery Museum, we have Australian hissing cockroaches that we take out and let people hold … yuck!
There are other yucky things going on at the museum during the month of October, which we have renamed “Yucktober.” We will share, read, and learn about yucky things like warts and scat. Do you know what scat is?
Here’s another question: What’s more yucky, worms or bats? Which one would you most like to hold? Perhaps you are brave enough to hold both!
Find out more during our free weekly programs all next month, when you can join us as we recreate our own archaeology dig. What’s so yucky about rocks and bones? Well, this kind of archaeology is called “garbology,” and scientists learn about humans by looking at their trash. All month long, yuck will be fun—and we’ll learn a lot.
Dynia Valdovinos is program coordinator of the Santa Maria Valley Discovery Museum. Discovery Corner is a weekly column in the Sun, highlighting events, science activities, and more for the Santa Maria Valley Discovery Museum at 705 S. McClelland in Santa Maria. Send comments to discoverycorner@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Sep 29 – Oct 6, 2011.