Giant Insects Take Over Tartu

Text Timo Raussi
Photo Ahhaa

Have you ever wondered how many different arthropods, beetles, and other invertebrate critters a Christmas tree brought into a warm room might be hiding among its branches? In the new exhibition at the AHHAA Science Centre in Tartu, you can explore the world of insects, enlarged to gigantic human-scale proportions.

Insects and other invertebrates often go unnoticed in everyday life because of their small size and their tendency to be active in the darker hours of the day. The science exhibition, opened a week ago, showcases nature’s miniature, and sometimes surprisingly colourful, rulers, some of which have been made to move with the help of robotics.

“With the giant models created for the exhibition, you can see details on the bugs that you would never notice in nature, not even when looking very closely at an insect placed on your palm. In AHHAA’s exhibition hall you definitely won’t need a magnifying glass or a microscope. This exhibition may even make people wonder what the world would be like if insects were actually as large as the ones displayed here,” said Associate Professor Toomas Esperk, a zoologist specialising in invertebrates, in an interview with Estonian Public Broadcasting.

A giant scorpion, bee, firefly, snail, dragonfly, spider, and ladybird can no doubt frighten some of the science centre’s visitors. The creators of the exhibition remind us, however, that without this most diverse group of organisms on Earth, no other life could exist here at all. More than a million insect species have been recorded, but according to current scientific understanding, the real number is believed to be six or even ten times higher.

The “Ahaaa, Giant Insects!” exhibition is open in Tartu until the first half of May.

A video tip for those interested in studying Estonian: Watch the beloved 2001 Estonian classic animated film “Lepatriinude jõulud”, or “The Ladybirds’ Christmas” in English, on Estonian Public Broadcasting’s Jupiter video service.

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