Zoo idea

[CladeArthropoda]

What if there was a zoo containing every known, extant arthropod species? How expensive or difficult of a project would that be? What exhibit would attract the most guests?

 

[bunniebie]

i dunno, might be a bit difficult to pull off.

 

[bunniebie]

on a slightly more serious note, i'm not sure which would be the most popular exhibit. people tend to oggle the deadliest thing they can find, but they are also drawn to exhibits they can directly interact with. it might be a case of people going to see some real brutal species and winding up handling millipedes and phasmids.interesting question though.

 

[pannaking22]

Incredibly difficult and unbelievably expensive. Even more so if you want to make each species happy and get them to reproduce. Many species are extremely specialized, which would make care difficult at best (think cave-dwelling organisms or ones found at the bottom of the ocean). Sadly, those would probably be considered boring because they aren't huge and/or colorful. We also aren't counting species that are currently being described, sitting in a museum somewhere waiting description, or haven't been discovered yet. Space would be an issue too since you'd want to make sure each species has a bit of space, but you still want them to catch the attention of people walking by so they stop and look.

 

[CladeArthropoda]

Incredibly difficult and unbelievably expensive. Even more so if you want to make each species happy and get them to reproduce. Many species are extremely specialized, which would make care difficult at best (think cave-dwelling organisms or ones found at the bottom of the ocean). Sadly, those would probably be considered boring because they aren't huge and/or colorful. We also aren't counting species that are currently being described, sitting in a museum somewhere waiting description, or haven't been discovered yet. Space would be an issue too since you'd want to make sure each species has a bit of space, but you still want them to catch the attention of people walking by so they stop and look.

And that's not even mentioning parasitic species. But this was a nice thought experiment, wasn't it?

 

[Galapoheros]

I would exhibit the most interesting species, add what your biz could handle. Somebody emailed wanted me to ID a moth in South Texas but couldn't get the pic to me. This person is not interested in moths as most of the population generally is not. So what moth in S. tx would catch the eye of the uninterested?, one that is "big", other than that, most people aren't interested. I guessed the Black Witch moth that is common there and that is what they saw. Big moths, big caterpillars, big scorpions, the most venomous scorpions, the biggest tarantulas, the most colorful tarantulas, the biggest whipscorpions, largest centipedes, most colorful centipedes, etc. ...., those are only what the general population is interested in when it come to inverts, all else would be a waste of time and energy imo.

 

[Arthroverts]

I think it would be great, but terribly expensive, venture. Plus, the people who would want to visit it the most would be the members of this board, and it would probably be far away from most of us. Another thing to think about is the fact that even the reptile hobby, which is ten times as big as the invertebrate hobby, usually does not gather enough support to open zoo's exclusively devoted to them.

 

[CladeArthropoda]

I would exhibit the most interesting species, add what your biz could handle. Somebody emailed wanted me to ID a moth in South Texas but couldn't get the pic to me. This person is not interested in moths as most of the population generally is not. So what moth in S. tx would catch the eye of the uninterested?, one that is "big", other than that, most people aren't interested. I guessed the Black Witch moth that is common there and that is what they saw. Big moths, big caterpillars, big scorpions, the most venomous scorpions, the biggest tarantulas, the most colorful tarantulas, the biggest whipscorpions, largest centipedes, most colorful centipedes, etc. ...., those are only what the general population is interested in when it come to inverts, all else would be a waste of time and energy imo.

I think your forgetting about marine species.

 

[Galapoheros]

I think your forgetting about marine species.

Oh yeah, OK, the biggest marine species and most colorful. Active species would help.