Missoula Butterfly House & Insectarium
Our lab actively supports the development of the Missoula Butterfly House and Insectarium, now a partner in the new Rocky Mountain Gardens and Exploration Center, a state-of-the-art science education facility being constructed at the Missoula Country Fairgrounds. This new facility will combine indoor classrooms and hands-on interactive exhibits with a walk-in tropical butterfly house with free flying butterflies from around the world, display habitats with giant, charismatic live arthropods, and 2.5 acres of educational gardens. Designed with class fieldtrips in mind, this new campus will serve tens of thousands of Montana schoolchildren each year (educational programs are built around current science standards for elementary and middle school grades). It will also be a go-to destination for families. By instilling a sense of wonder in kids and their parents (and grandparents), this new center will showcase the excitement and relevance of modern science.
Doug Emlen serves as co-chair of the steering committee raising funds for this new center, and on the MBHI board. In addition, for the two years while the Butterfly House is in between buildings, the Emlen lab has provided a home for many of the Butterfly House’s insect “ambassadors”, including rhinoceros beetles, stick and leaf insects, stag beetles, and tarantulas. The Emlen lab has started working with a number of giant rhinoceros beetle species to see if the males sing and dance for females the same way that their focal species does (so far it appears that they do not!). Once they are done filming and recording the beetles they donate them to the Butterfly House for outreach programs.
During the pandemic, Brenna Shea (one of the Butterfly House educators) recorded podcasts from inside our lab, showcasing cool behaviors and natural history secrets of the many charismatic arthropods in regular shows that could be accessed by children stuck at home. This series is part of the Butterfly House’s Community Science Program “online bug encounters” and is available at: https://www.missoulabutterflyhouse.org/online-bug-encounters/
Link to the new facility/ jointhebuzz campaign:
https://jointhebuzzmissoula.org/#the-project
Link for the bug ambassadors:
https://www.missoulabutterflyhouse.org/bug-ambassador-bios/
Doug Emlen serves as co-chair of the steering committee raising funds for this new center, and on the MBHI board. In addition, for the two years while the Butterfly House is in between buildings, the Emlen lab has provided a home for many of the Butterfly House’s insect “ambassadors”, including rhinoceros beetles, stick and leaf insects, stag beetles, and tarantulas. The Emlen lab has started working with a number of giant rhinoceros beetle species to see if the males sing and dance for females the same way that their focal species does (so far it appears that they do not!). Once they are done filming and recording the beetles they donate them to the Butterfly House for outreach programs.
During the pandemic, Brenna Shea (one of the Butterfly House educators) recorded podcasts from inside our lab, showcasing cool behaviors and natural history secrets of the many charismatic arthropods in regular shows that could be accessed by children stuck at home. This series is part of the Butterfly House’s Community Science Program “online bug encounters” and is available at: https://www.missoulabutterflyhouse.org/online-bug-encounters/
Link to the new facility/ jointhebuzz campaign:
https://jointhebuzzmissoula.org/#the-project
Link for the bug ambassadors:
https://www.missoulabutterflyhouse.org/bug-ambassador-bios/
Artists in Residence
The Emlen lab partners with Open Air, a nonprofit organization that brings artists from across the nation to Missoula for 6-week internships. In the summer of 2022 a composer:
Jessi Harvey (https://www.jessiharveymusic.com/)
and a choreographer,
Julynn Wildman (http://www.embodypraxis.com/home/)
became integral parts of the lab, immersed in the chaos of student projects and studies of beetle (and leaf insect) behavior. This partnership between science and art was tremendously rewarding, and Jessi and Julynn spent many hours listening to the beetles sing and watching the beetles dance. It turns out that having your skeleton on the outside really changes the way an animal moves!! We are now working on securing funding for a joint commissioned work inspired by their time in the lab.
Recordings of presentations by Jessi and Julynn:
Jessi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BswrCxdWS0o
Julynn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEHSezvP6Q0
Open Air: https://www.openairmt.org/
Jessi Harvey (https://www.jessiharveymusic.com/)
and a choreographer,
Julynn Wildman (http://www.embodypraxis.com/home/)
became integral parts of the lab, immersed in the chaos of student projects and studies of beetle (and leaf insect) behavior. This partnership between science and art was tremendously rewarding, and Jessi and Julynn spent many hours listening to the beetles sing and watching the beetles dance. It turns out that having your skeleton on the outside really changes the way an animal moves!! We are now working on securing funding for a joint commissioned work inspired by their time in the lab.
Recordings of presentations by Jessi and Julynn:
Jessi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BswrCxdWS0o
Julynn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEHSezvP6Q0
Open Air: https://www.openairmt.org/
DOCUMENTARIES & INTERVIEWS
PBS NOVA: “Extreme Animal Weapons” 59 min. Original air date: May 18, 2018.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/extreme-animal-weapons.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/extreme-animal-weapons.html
BBC Natural World: “Nature’s Wildest Weapons: Horns, Tusks and Antlers” 59 min. Original air date: April 18, 2016.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08n9f6d
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08n9f6d
"MeatEater" With Steve Rinella, August 2019, 2 hours 12 min.
https://www.themeateater.com/listen/meateater/ep-180-teeth-horns-and-claws
https://www.themeateater.com/listen/meateater/ep-180-teeth-horns-and-claws
“SciShow” with Hank Green, Feb 1, 2015, 18 min
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No6mB6V1wL4
“SciShow” with Hank Green, Aug 13, 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyidhY2dc5I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No6mB6V1wL4
“SciShow” with Hank Green, Aug 13, 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyidhY2dc5I
“Out There” with Willow Belden, July 2016.
http://www.outtherepodcast.com/episodes/2016/7/14/episode-19-from-the-horns-of-beetles
“Breaking Bio” with Morgan Jackson, Tom Houslay and Heidi Smith, February 29, 2016
http://breakingbio.com/2016/03/01/bb100-read-broadly-and-carry-a-big-horn-with-dr-doug-emlen/
“Science for the People” with Rachelle Saunders, Aug 14, 2015
http://www.scienceforthepeople.ca/episodes/animal-weapons
“The State of Things” with Frank Stasio, WUNC, Jan 6, 2015:
http://wunc.org/post/animal-weapons-and-evolution-battle
“Before they were scientists: Doug Emlen” Your Wild Life with Holly Menninger, Dec. 2014.
http://yourwildlife.org/2014/10/before-they-were-scientists-doug-emlen/
“How on Earth” with Jane Palmer, KGNU, Dec 2, 2014:
http://howonearthradio.org/archives/4437
“Big Picture Science – Surfeit of the Vitalest”, Nov 17, 2014:
http://radio.seti.org/blog/2014/11/big-picture-science-surfeit-of-the-vitalest-doug-emlen-animal-weapons/
“Science Friday” with John Dankosky, PRI, Nov 14, 2014:
http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/11/14/2014/horns-claws-and-teeth-the-animal-weapons-arms-race.html
“On Point” with Jane Clayson, WBUR, Nov 7, 2014:
https://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/11/07/vampire-deer-musk-deer-animal-weapons
“The WildLife” on WOMM-LP with Laurel Neme, June 13, 2011:
http://www.laurelneme.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=401:
the-wildlife-dung-beetles-doug-emlen&catid=48:the-wildlife-on-womm-lp&Itemid=251
Science Signaling Podcast with Annalisa VanHook, August 14, 2012:
http://podcasts.aaas.org/science_signaling/ScienceSignaling_120814.mp3
NPR Science Friday, “A beetle that puts the ‘extreme’ in extremity” October 15, 2012:
http://www.npr.org/2012/10/05/162372199/a-beetle-that-puts-the-extreme-in-extremity
link to video:
http://www.sciencefriday.com/video/10/05/2012/this-beetle-puts-the-extreme-in-extremity.html
“Fresh Air” with Terry Gross, NPR, May 4, 2009:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103775784
http://www.outtherepodcast.com/episodes/2016/7/14/episode-19-from-the-horns-of-beetles
“Breaking Bio” with Morgan Jackson, Tom Houslay and Heidi Smith, February 29, 2016
http://breakingbio.com/2016/03/01/bb100-read-broadly-and-carry-a-big-horn-with-dr-doug-emlen/
“Science for the People” with Rachelle Saunders, Aug 14, 2015
http://www.scienceforthepeople.ca/episodes/animal-weapons
“The State of Things” with Frank Stasio, WUNC, Jan 6, 2015:
http://wunc.org/post/animal-weapons-and-evolution-battle
“Before they were scientists: Doug Emlen” Your Wild Life with Holly Menninger, Dec. 2014.
http://yourwildlife.org/2014/10/before-they-were-scientists-doug-emlen/
“How on Earth” with Jane Palmer, KGNU, Dec 2, 2014:
http://howonearthradio.org/archives/4437
“Big Picture Science – Surfeit of the Vitalest”, Nov 17, 2014:
http://radio.seti.org/blog/2014/11/big-picture-science-surfeit-of-the-vitalest-doug-emlen-animal-weapons/
“Science Friday” with John Dankosky, PRI, Nov 14, 2014:
http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/11/14/2014/horns-claws-and-teeth-the-animal-weapons-arms-race.html
“On Point” with Jane Clayson, WBUR, Nov 7, 2014:
https://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/11/07/vampire-deer-musk-deer-animal-weapons
“The WildLife” on WOMM-LP with Laurel Neme, June 13, 2011:
http://www.laurelneme.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=401:
the-wildlife-dung-beetles-doug-emlen&catid=48:the-wildlife-on-womm-lp&Itemid=251
Science Signaling Podcast with Annalisa VanHook, August 14, 2012:
http://podcasts.aaas.org/science_signaling/ScienceSignaling_120814.mp3
NPR Science Friday, “A beetle that puts the ‘extreme’ in extremity” October 15, 2012:
http://www.npr.org/2012/10/05/162372199/a-beetle-that-puts-the-extreme-in-extremity
link to video:
http://www.sciencefriday.com/video/10/05/2012/this-beetle-puts-the-extreme-in-extremity.html
“Fresh Air” with Terry Gross, NPR, May 4, 2009:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103775784