Insectpalooza returns to San Francisco | KTVU

Hinzugefügt: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]Insect Palooza coming back to San Francisco next weekend giving families a chance to get up close and personal with giant African millipedes, Australian walking sticks, Madagascar hissing cockroaches, all of your favorites and it's all for free. Joining us now, Norman Gershenz, director of savenature.org, who is bringing Insect Palooza here to our KTVU studios and we have some of the beautiful creatures that uh people young and old will get an opportunity to hang out with. And you said that I would get a chance to hold this one.

[00:00:33]>> This is the Eastern Lubber Grasshopper and Insect Palooza, this is our sixth year working with the San Francisco Education Project and artists. So, it's about art, about nature, about science, and about adventure. And so, something like the you know, the Eastern Lubber Grasshopper, you're wondering why isn't it jumping? I know you are.

[00:00:54]>> Uh that was my question during the break, as a matter of fact.

[00:00:57]>> turns out, when they have these bright colors, it says, "Don't eat me. I don't taste very good." So, we'll have the Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers, but we'll also have something like just incredible animal. This is the Australian Walking Stick and you can see it will sit Put your hand >> Oh, it really looks like leaves.

[00:01:16]>> And we'll put it just at the edge there and you notice that it's rolling up its abdomen pretending to be a scorpion.

[00:01:24]>> Oh, scorpion. It looked like a leaf to me. It looked like a strike team.

[00:01:27]>> are dangerous and so, this animal protects itself by mimicry. And so, people that come to Insect Palooza will not only get a chance to experience all these animals, but also will create masterpieces of art. We have four artists in residence there at the gallery and we're sponsored by Avenue Greenlight and we've been very fortunate. But when you come, the adventure part becomes eating our our wonderful chocolate chip uh chirpys, which you can see right here. [laughter] And they do have mealworms in there. I'm not going to make you take a bite.

[00:02:00]>> Thank you.

[00:02:01]>> But uh you know, there's a serious side of it because there's famine all over the world. People eat insects all over the world, and there's no reason for us not to consider it. It's a little bit of a having a little bit of fun. And the other thing that's going to happen is that we're going to have a a chance for you or anybody here to win or bid on a safari to South Africa. So, these are quite remarkable. I've never brought this to KTVU.

[00:02:26]>> Uh this was the one I had I had had a question for you. I noticed that you were I I do want to ask more about this, but I noticed that you'd brought all the insects out during the break like long before, and I had expected that like with bugs that we see in our homes or outside that they're going to scurry away to every corner. And these have all remained right where you put them.

[00:02:44]>> Well, you know, I'm an expert. No, I'm teasing. [laughter] It's It turns out that these animals are go out educational animals. We do close to 6 to 700 educational outreach programs here in the Bay Area to schools, birthday parties, cocktail parties. And so, this is the Thailand walking stick. This is a fantastic animal.

[00:03:05]>> Beautiful.

[00:03:05]>> Uh and what's interesting, the Australian walking stick looks like a scorpion. This one looks like a stick.

[00:03:12]And the one I have right here looks like a leaf.

[00:03:18]>> And are all of these related? Are they all the same?

[00:03:20]>> These are walking sticks.

[00:03:21]>> walking sticks.

[00:03:22]>> around the world. This is the Malaysian walking stick. Looks just like a leaf.

[00:03:27]Spectacular animal. And so, Insect Palooza's not just for families and children. It's for adults. And we invite people to come and experiencing all these things uh because it's you know, nature isn't just [clears throat] for little children. It's nature's for all of us. And that's what insects uh Save Nature does. We inspire these children to save nature around the world.

[00:03:51]>> Well, and I would So, I have lots of questions, as you might imagine. I would guess that because they're so big and they're packed with protein, they're a good food source for every animal Every opportunistic animal is going to see that and say, "I want to eat it." And that why it's it seems like their strategy is camouflage.

[00:04:07]>> Yes, you can You can be camouflage, but this is a good meal. And the same thing with the Australian walking stick. The only way to protect itself is to mimic a scorpion. And of course, you can you have, you know, you can have the the No one's going to eat this animal cuz it tastes really, really bad.

[00:04:24]>> And that's what that bright coloration says. It's It's It's a It's a clear message to any predators, "Hey, I don't taste good." And presumably, predators have either eaten one once before and they learn quickly and then they don't eat them anymore.

[00:04:36]>> Right. It's It'd be a bad It'd be terrible to eat it again.

[00:04:40]>> So, let's talk about Insect Palooza cuz cuz I want to be sure that we have plenty of time to hype that event, which is an opportunity for people to do exactly what I just had a chance to do. Get a chance to feel some of these insects, which surprisingly have a lot of heft.

[00:04:52]>> They do.

[00:04:52]>> Uh We're about to lose a walking stick.

[00:04:54]>> Surprisingly, it is.

[00:04:55]>> Yeah, it's a surprising amount of heft.

[00:04:57]So, let's talk about the event. What can families What can people expect at the >> Well, they're going to expect all of our animals from the Insect Discovery Lab.

[00:05:06]Everyone's going to be there. I couldn't bring the scorpions, but we have two different types of scorpions and we have them under black light. As you may know, every scorpion on the planet fluoresces >> Yes.

[00:05:16]>> under black light. So, they're going to get a chance to not only experience and hold all of these, but to interact with our educational specialist and to learn about the biodiversity of the Earth and how we can save it. That's exactly what we do.

[00:05:31]>> And And let's talk about when and where.

[00:05:33]How do people get there?

[00:05:34]>> Uh well, it's It's in San Francisco. It's at the Minnesota Street Project Gallery. And excuse me, Minnesota Street. And they You go to Eventbrite and it's free. It's completely free and sign up.

[00:05:49]>> Absolutely. We have that information right there on the screen. That is next Sunday from 12:00 to 3:00. You said Minnesota Street Project in San Francisco. And importantly, it is free.

[00:05:59]Norman, it's a pleasure. Thank you so much. I was a little hesitant at first and you were absolutely right. This is super fun and very interesting and also great for not just kids, but adults, anybody who's interested. Thank you so much for joining us.

[00:06:13]>> Thank you for having us.