Living With Museum Gags

Beetle Display, Cleveland Museum of Natural History
Photo: Muppaphone

With a display featuring insect biodiversity, the effect of hundreds of pinned specimens of insects can be overwhelming. Dedicated fans spend hours delighting in the details of each specimen. Some people will pass on after a short glance. Museum curators know this and sometimes insert subtle humor into their displays that are overlooked by most, but rewarding to the more studious.

The picture (above left) is of a display by the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Hiding in plain sight among the beetle diversity is a toy Volkswagen Beetle that has been part of the exhibit since 2002.

Money quote from museum director of communications, Glenda Bogar:

It serves as a fun way to engage our visitors. There are a handful of other hidden surprises in displays around the institution. Visitors are always excited when they uncover these humorous and unexpected objects.

About jjneal

Jonathan Neal is a retired Associate Professor of Entomology at Purdue University and author of the textbook, Living With Insects (2010). This blog is a forum to communicate about the intersection of insects with people and policy. This is a personal blog. The opinions and materials posted here are those of the author and are in no way connected with those of my employer.

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2 Responses to Living With Museum Gags

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MDE Pest Services says:

January 30, 2017 at 1:32 pm

What a creative idea. It would make field trips to the museum more of a search-and-find or I spy game. We have a pest control company in SC and love to have funny information like this in our office. Thanks for the post!