Our Spineless Giants room is getting very close to opening — we even have a few of our new inhabitants in-house already! We can’t wait to display them. But before we do, a little education…
Let’s get scientific for a moment: Arthropods (including insects, spiders, scorpions and centipedes – oh my!) are a vastly abundant group of invertebrates whose bodies are contained within an exoskeleton. As the name suggests, these unique animals’ skeletons are on the outside of their bodies versus the inside, as with other animals.
Now, a little history on the arthropod group! During the Carboniferous period, the Earth’s atmosphere contained up to 30 percent more oxygen than it does today. This enabled creatures of all kinds to grow very large — the Pulmonoscorpius kirktonsis, the largest scorpion to ever occupy land, was more than two-feet long! You wouldn’t want to find one of those guys in your backyard! The Meganeura was a dragonfly with a wingspan of more than two feet — similar in size to a seagull you might see at the beach today! Through the changing environment, arthropod giants vanished over time. But the creatures you’ll see in our Spineless Giants room represent the largest arthropods still living on Earth!
