Schoolchildren come from Davis and towns around the Central Valley to "See BIG Bugs," as Bohart Museum educational brochures announce, and they are not disappointed. Bohart scientists constantly travel the world in search of insect specimens to add to its collection, the seventh largest in North America.
Today, the big attractions include the hissing cockroach of Madagascar (five inches long) and a preserved moth featured in the movie The Silence of the Lambs, among many others.
Founded in 1946 by Robert Bohart, then UC Davis' Chief Entomologist, the Museum also provides public services including insect identification (people can bring in insects they find) and aiding police in crime-scene investigations.