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Journey to a world where insects RULE! "A Rainforest Adventure: Bugs! in 3D" invades IMAX March 1 CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (Feb. 11, 2004)—Imagine a six-story-tall green mantis. He swivels his head around, locks eyes with you, raises his forelegs in attack posture – and STRIKES! Although the mantis has the starring role in the newest IMAX 3D film at the Tennessee Aquarium, he shares the screen with butterflies, scorpions, tarantulas, lizards and bats that skitter across the IMAX screen – some magnified 250,000 times their normal size. “A Rainforest Adventure: Bugs in 3D” opens March 1 at the Aquarium IMAX 3D Theater. Check www.tnaqua.org or call 800-262-0695 for show times. “‘Bugs!’ sounds like a film with a high fear factor, but it’s more cool than creepy,” said Julia Gregory, Aquarium educator, entomologist and “Big Bug” of the Aquarium’s Bug Club. “The whole family will be ‘buzzing’ about it.” Highlighting the extraordinary world of insects, the film gives audiences a bug’s eye-view of the lifecycles of a mantis and a butterfly, from their births to their inevitable encounter when predator meets its prey. “Insects are essential to life on Earth,” said Gregory. “They pollinate plants, build soil, feed other animals and recycle waste. By managing life and death, they are the true caretakers of the natural world. Besides all that, they’re just plain cool.” In fact, one square mile of rainforest contains as many insects as there are people on Earth, she added. And 75 percent of the world’s insects live in the rainforests. More than 40 tropical rainforest insects are featured in “Bugs!” The audience will meet a host of insects that inhabit the rich, green and humid world of the Borneo jungle. In addition to viewing the birth of hundreds of praying mantises, the audience will see a caterpillar hatch from a single tiny egg to metamorphose into a butterfly; and watch as a praying mantis snaps up a fly for dinner. Other creatures featured in the film include: leaf cutter ants that consume 20 percent of the rainforest’s leaves; rhino beetles battling for the favors of a female; a trilobite beetle hiding his tiny head under armor plating; a scale bug disguised as a ball of fluff; an orchid mantis that resembles the flower; and a thorn bug, identical to a thorn. The Aquarium’s Bug Club currently has openings for children 12 and older who love fascinating multi-legged creatures. Members meet once a month on the third Thursday and includes a T-shirt, monthly newsletter, field trips and 4-H opportunities. For more information about Bug Club, call 423-785-4054. # # #
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