Backyard quot;pestsquot; on display

MUMBAI, SEPT 15: Glimpses of the insect world will be put on display at the Nehru Science Centre at Worli soon. The 45-day long exhibitio...

MUMBAI, SEPT 15: Glimpses of the insect world will be put on display at the Nehru Science Centre at Worli soon. The 45-day long exhibition Giants from the Backyard8217; will include mammoth-sized models of insects and arthropods including a two-metre-long grasshopper sitting on a blade of grass; a metre-long caterpillar having a whale of a time on a giant cauliflower.

These images, which look like chapters from Alice In Wonderland, are the handiwork of National Council of Science Museums NCSM. There are also digitalised board games about dancing honey bees, CD-Roms detailing how spiders spin their webs 8211; all of which could be easily operated by kids.

The NCSM is the apex body of science museums and centres in the country. The premier organisation set up to instill a scientific temper all over India organised this exhibition to focus on hitherto neglected insects and arthropods who are considered mere pests8217;.

The exhibition incorporates imaginative forms of edutainment, imparting knowledgethrough animated robotics of 20 species of arthropods covering about 10,000 sq ft space. These have all been designed and developed indigenously, 8220;The likes of which one can only be seen in US, Japan and some West European countries8221;, observed the Director General of NCSM, Ingit K. Mukherjee at a press meet on Monday.

Arthropods, specially insects, make up for 80 per cent of animal species on earth. They have been dominating this planet for 350 million years almost one third of a billion years, maintaining the balance of nature. They have proved to be stronger than dinosaurs who became extinct, points out Mukherjee.

8220;They knew, long before man, how to make paper and silk and the optimum use of space. From recycling of waste to its consumption and elimination of pests, many of the feats of these creatures are useful to mankind,8221; added Mukherjee. The exhibition, however, is yet to finalise its list of sponsors. It is scheduled to tour other NCSM centres at Bangalore, Nagpur, Bhopal andHyderabad.