[grunts] - Barrett Klein: Take one.
- Producer: And then try talking about it.
- Orthoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera,
Hymenoptera, Trichoptera.
Notice they all end in "optera," Greek for "wing."
Coleoptera, beetles.
From a weevil to a ground beetle.
Here, we've got burying beetles and other carrion beetles.
Goliath beetle, the most massive insect on the planet.
Insects.
The grand diversity, variety, not only in shape, color, form,
but behavior has always inspired and excited me.
I'm Barrett Klein, entomologist, entomoartist,
animal behaviorist, and professor of biology
at University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
[quirky music]
I like to share my food with the roaches.
Let's see.
Now, they love bananas.
Chowing down!
So it's tempting to swat, slap, and dismiss or repel insects.
- Advertiser: Flying insect killer: kills bugs dead.
- It takes a little bit more effort to observe,
not just tolerate, but celebrate insect involvement
in our lives.
Pollination, decomposition, nutrient dispersal,
soil aeration.
Our lives depend on them.
Let's find that winner of a drawer.
Hey, what are they doing here?
Excuse me.
When I was five years old, I found a dead butterfly
on my parents' driveway, and I was thrilled
because to a child, to well, to anybody with open eyes
and an open mind, the beauty was exhilarating.
I could hold that accessible, exquisite organism,
and I felt really privileged.
And I knew at that point, I had this nebulous epiphany
that insects would be at the core of my existence.
So, when I was asked to write a book,
I titled it The Insect Epiphany
because every day, there's a new epiphany
as to how insects influence our lives.
Cultural entomology,
or how insects have affected human culture across the world
and throughout history.
[groovy music]
On this table, you see insects in comic books,
and then stamps from across the world.
Products like cochineal.
The dried bodies can form this lustrous red.
Entomophagy, the eating of insects.
High in calories, as well as micronutrients and protein.
Pupae, crickets, grasshoppers, mealworms, larvae.
From Korea, we've got silkworm moth pupae.
Not my highest recommendation.
Insects as costumes.
Here's my sketchbook designing that number.
So when Halloween comes up, I must have an insect helmet.
A bald-faced hornet nest with entrance as the mouth,
and a gaping hole revealing a brood cone.
Paper wasp helmet, silk tunic and wings,
cochineal sleeves, paper chest shield.
- Producer: Why, why, why do you do it?
[Barrett laughs]
My reason for involving insects,
it affords me a greater intimacy with the arthropods I love.
But also, I find art is an easy, fun,
often inspiring way to communicate
to fellow humans the value of insects.
To explore this intimate connection we have with insects,
that's what's really exciting to me.
[laughs]