Science Centre Singapore
Jurong East, Singapore
June 2013
The day that Merlion Wayfarer looked forward to has finally arrived. (See "Marvel At The Small Things In Life".) On a warm weekend afternoon, she stepped into the Science Centre and found her way to the Annexe.
Pausing at the entrance to MegaBugs Returns!, she took a deep breath. What will she expect to find?
In she goes into the Warp Tunnel...
And emerges the size of a 20-cent coin where the world of bugs is revealed to her...
Curious ants swarmed around her, feelers twitching - some were milling around bits of biscuits and donuts left behind by some careless humans, others were protecting their nests...
Mere steps away stood a gigantic Rhinoceros Beetle - its single horn glinting menacingly in the light. Although it usually uses this horn when fighting other males, Merlion Wayfarer is not taking her chances with this one!
What's that smell? It's actually coming from these beetles which have rolled some feces into a ball! These balls are used as a food source or breeding chambers...
Hey look! Why is that dragonfly moving in this weird way?
Look what's resting on some logs - A Monarch Butterfly on one side and a Common Rose a short distance away. Monarchs are famous for their migration patterns which last longer than the lifetime of a single generation...
A boy exclaims in surprise - Look at that human over there! She is even smaller than a housefly...
Watch out! There is a ferocious centipede on the loose! It looks headed for...
An angry scorpion! They must be headed for the housefly as dinner!
The snail watches the scene calmly, gliding by and leaving a trail of slime in its wake...
Nearby, on a blade of grass, a praying mantis is watching a grasshopper...
(To see the life cycle of a praying mantis, catch "Bugs! 3D – A RainForest Adventure",
a documentary of the fascinating universe of insects magnified up to 250,000 times their normal size where a single raindrop can be as big as whole pond.)
What's this - A giant can of insecticide!
It must be used for spraying household pests like this American Cockroach...
And this mosquito...
And yes, the Aedes Mosquito with its striped legs can cause dengue (as this boy pointed out)
so do keep your home free of stagnant water...
Stand off with a bee... Luckily it's not the side with the sting...
Taking a short break underneath the shelter of some leaves, Merlion Wayfarer spotted a few little humans enjoying some fun activities...
- Pretending to be a fly on the wall...
- Adding colours to ladybirds and butterflies...
- Counting how many insects they can spot...
- Big humans teaching little humans how to identify insect calls...
- Venturing into the cosy nest of a gigantic Singapore Blue Spider and reading Bugs Facts...
- Learning how bugs communicate and how they can be useful to humans...
- Figuring how a squirming little "worm" can end up as an insect with wings...
- Most importantly, finding out what's a "bug" and what are the different types of bugs...
her legs sinking knee-deep into the leaves...
With a blinding flash, she was back to her normal size at the Science Centre. What a relief!
She went on to explore the other activities for normal-sized humans outside the exhibition...
- Good photo opportunities with more bugs - The dung beetle is a popular crowd favourite...
- Normal-sized humans are able to try on the creative bug costumes designed by students from a secondary school...
- Other fringe activities include do-it-yourself insect kits, clay-modelling and a studio photo setup...
The sun is setting, better head off home before the insects come alive at night!
