OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — 3 News Now Anchor Zach Williamson continues his weekly series "Zach at the Zoo" at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium. This week, introducing us to the Malayan Jungle Nymph.
- The female Malayan Jungle Nymph is the heaviest stick insect in the world, and is two times larger than its male counterpart.
- The female is green and camouflages with leaves, while the male is brown and camouflages with sticks.
- There are 16 on display inside the Butterfly and Insect Pavillion.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
“Ummmm I think it’s a little scary,” a young zoo-goer told me.
“I-I love her,” Cori Dick, Keeper of Butterflies & Insects at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium, said.
Love her or hate her — everyone can agree on one thing.
“I think it’s very, very big,” the young zoo-goer said.
“It is one of the heaviest insects in the world and definitely the heaviest stick insect,” Dick added.
This is the female Malayan jungle nymph — a stick insect growing up to seven inches long.
It is much larger, and brighter, than its male counterpart.
“Believe it or not, this is the same species. They are both full grown adults, they just have high sexual dimorphism so they look completely different,” Dick explained.
“As you can see, this one is more of a leaf looking insect, and this one is more of your stick, twig looking insect.”
Both have wings — but the male can actually use them.
“She has those really short wings. So even though she has wings, she’s not capable of flying, and that’s actually because she weighs so much,” she laughed.
The number one defense mechanism is, obviously, camouflage.
But they’re not limited to just that.
“Her defense mechanism is to kind of a scissors kick with her legs. Like that! You saw it a little bit. She has spines all over her body and legs."
This specific female is 1 ½ years old — nearing the species life expectancy of just two years.
She has laid her fair share of eggs.
“This is actually one of their eggs.”
But will most likely never meet her little ones.
“Females will lay plenty of those and it actually takes about a year for it to hatch.”
Each egg has one insect inside — coming out of the egg about an inch long.
“They’re just all curled up in there. Again, this is something with invertebrates. Because they don’t have any bones, they can kind of contort themselves in interesting positions.”
Once fully grown — the babies will eventually make it to exhibit — though there you still may not see them!
“16 of them on display currently, so see if you can find the 16 when you’re checking that display out.”
I couldn’t find them all, but you can try your luck!
Just pay a visit to the Butterfly and Insect Pavilion.
