Home
Contribute
Contact Us
Browse all meetings
Home
Contribute
Contact Us
Browse all meetings
Baltimore County, MD
/
smARTS
/ 16 Jun 2016
Baltimore County, MD
/
smARTS
/ 16 Jun 2016
Previous Meeting
Next Meeting
⏯
Sync
Add meeting
Rate page
Subscribe
►
From YouTube:
smARTS: Maryland Butterflies
Description
Get smARTER about the Maryland butterflies around us.
A
( ♪♪♪ ).
A
With me in the studio is biologist.
Nick spero.
A
nick is also a volunteer with the natural history society of maryland.
A
And you have brought some incredibly interesting specimens.
A
From the natural history society in overlea., can you tell us a little bit about this?.
B
This is just a small part of our collection..
B
These are butterflies and moths that you could find in maryland.
B
These are luna moths on this side--.
I love those luna moths.
A
I mean, they look--.
Are they almost luminescent?.
A
Well,, it's a beautiful animal.
B
They're not luminescent,, but that's just the natural color of these guys.
B
okay, wow., something unique with luna moths and well as the cecropia moths,, the polyphemus moths --.
B
The males have very large plume-like antennae.
B
Which are chemoreceptors.
the females' antennae pick these-- or the male antenna pick the female pheromone up.
B
And they'll actually attract males for well over a mile.
B
Wow!, how interesting!.
A
Now, another thing about the male and female butterflies, that second column.
You have there,, where the one butterfly is much more colorful than the other two..
A
That's a male.
B
The one in the center is an io male and they show sexual dimorphism.
B
The females are one color and the males are a different, color.
B
okay,.
Now what I kind of like that?
I recognize.
A
Are the beautiful yellow butterflies.?
A
Can you tell me about those??
I see those in my garden.
B
These are tiger swallowtails,, which are very common..
If you have a butterfly bush, they'll, definitely come into that..
B
It's a very common butterfly in maryland.
B
These are sulfurs, skippers,, fritillaries,.
B
All of which are common butterflies that you would find in maryland.
B
Okay,, so you have these wonderful collections,.
A
But you also then have a program where people can get some of these in their own--.
A
I'd love to have some of these butterflies in my own garden.
B
We do.
absolutely., we do.
we'll offer larvae -- the caterpillars -- of several of these species and show people husbandry;.
B
The proper food plants for them to feed.
A
And at the end of the season,, they ll pupate, make a cocoon,.
B
And emerge the following: year.
A
That is fantastic!, so you make it easy and accessible.
we do,, we do.
B
Each individual moth requires a specific food plant.
B
And if you don't know what that is,, you can't grow them.
A
I have to ask you -- how old are some of these collections and how is it to mount these butterflies like this?,.
B
Some of these collections go back to the 60's..
It's a very historical collection.
to mount a butterfly,.
Someone, that's good can mount a butterfly in a couple minutes..
Can you do this?
absolutely.
absolutely.
A
And I love these butterfly collections, but the society has all kinds of different collections, right?.
B
This is just a small part of our collection..
We have some very significant anasazi pots,.
B
We have an herbarium,, we have probably the best herp collection.
B
herps would include reptiles and amphibians..
B
We have an immense variety of different natural artifacts.
B
From around the world.
okay,, all right.
A
Well, I encourage everyone to go over to overlea to the society's headquarters.
A
And take a look at this and more and take advantage of getting these beautiful specimens in your own environment..
So these really challenge us all to take a look at our natural world.
A
Thanks so much, nick, for being here.
thank you., we hope you've been inspired to get out and be a part of the great outdoors and our vibrant arts and culture.
Scene.
A
visit www.enjoybaltimorecounty.com.
A
For more creative and fun, ideas.
A
smarts is produced by the baltimore county commission on arts and sciences in partnership with the baltimore county.
A
Public schools and bcps-tv.
A
thank you for watching., I'm carolyn black-sotir.
A
( ♪♪♪ ).