To spot the Bohart Museum of Entomology, look for the building with bold white columns that form geometric shapes in front and a tall, round red cylinder on the right side - you can't miss it, it almost looks like a modern sculpture that decided to turn into a museum.
Now, imagine opening a secret vault, but instead of gold and jewels, you find more than seven million insects, each one with its own story to tell! This is the magic of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, founded all the way back in 1946 by Professor Richard M. Bohart - a man so fascinated by bugs that he turned collecting them into a life’s work. If you ever wondered where the bugs have their own library, this is it! Today, this museum is the seventh largest insect collection in North America. From the buzzing beetles of California to rare butterflies from Indonesia and even mysterious critters from Australasia, this place is a global bug bonanza.
But it’s not just a dusty hall full of pinned insects - oh no! This museum is buzzing with scientists and students from the Entomology Department at UC Davis, who use these specimens for research, detective work, and even college classes. Just think: every year, 30,000 new insect guests arrive here - some found on wild adventures, some donated by enthusiastic bug lovers, and some sent by scientists from far and wide.
Each visitor to the museum, whether an undergrad looking for answers to a homework question or a child wide-eyed with wonder, adds to the energy here. And with Director Lynn Kimsey at the helm since 1989, the excitement keeps growing. Don’t let those tiny insects fool you - this place is an epicenter of curiosity, research, and stories with more legs than you can count. If you listen closely, maybe you’ll even hear the whispering wings of history all around you!
