Catch the buzz: Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium celebrates Chocolate Covered Insect Day

Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium Director
of Animals and Visitor Programs Jayme Necaise.

Once again, the Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium has grossed us out. But there’s chocolate involved!

On Saturday, Oct. 14, the New Orleans attraction celebrates Chocolate Covered Insect Day, where “executive bug chefs” let guests dip edible critters in a fountain overflowing with melted chocolate and enjoy campfire fudge, tarsal toffee or chocolate “chirp” cookies.

“We’re happy we can offer this unique opportunity to guests,” said Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium Director of Animals and Visitor Programs Jayme Necaise in a press release. “People may not realize this, but the FDA allows 60 or more microscopic insect fragments for each 100 grams of chocolate – so it’s not a huge leap to just go ahead and add the whole bug! Besides, bugs are good for you – they are surprisingly nutritious and a major food source for many people across the globe.”

Hmmmm.

The tastings are included with Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium admission (while supplies last). 

Necaise added, "If guests are lucky, there may even be some leftovers yummies on Sunday.”

Cheré Coen is a food and travel writer who loves a fun Southern story, even bugs.

Bugs that stare back

There’s a new man in town, at the Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium of New Orleans. The man-faced stink bugs, otherwise known as Catacanthus incarnates, will have visitors doing a double-take. Their colorful patterns resemble a human face.

"We are excited to have these large and beautiful stink bugs – there’s a phrase you don’t hear every day – to show our guests," said Zack Lemann, Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium’s Curator of Animal Programs. "Only a few zoos or museums in the U.S. have ever imported man-faced bugs up until now."

Man-faced bug nymph "babies" were born from eggs on Dec. 22, 2016, followed by an even larger set on Jan. 3 this year. Man-faced bugs have never been successfully raised in human care, and Audubon is hoping to be the first to do so. 

"It's a huge testament to the expertise of Audubon's entomologists that we could be the first in the world to rear such an incredible insect," said Ron Forman, Audubon Nature Institute president and CEO. "We hope these rare bugs will act as remarkable ambassador animals to educate our visitors about the diversity of wildlife and the importance of protecting it."

Man-faced bugs range from India east into most of southeast Asia. They are akin to large stink bugs and come in four different colors: red, orange, yellow, and cream. Man-faced bugs produce foul odors for defense like other stink bugs. Also, the bold colors are likely a defense mechanism, warning predators that it is bad-tasting or poisonous.

Wanna see more? Check out this cool video.

Note: Most of the information for this post was derived from an Audubon Institute press release.

Cheré Dastugue Coen is a food and travel writer living in South Louisiana who is the author of several Louisiana romances under the pen name of Cherie Claire and the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.

Fab Four beetles visit New Orleans

            Not exactly what you had in mind when thinking of the Fab Four coming to New Orleans (the Beatles actually played City Park's Tad Gormley Stadium in 1964), but Beetlemania will invade New Orleans Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 6-7, 2014, at the Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium.

             To honor the 12,000 different kinds of beetles in the United States and more than 400,000 species in the world, the Audubon Insectarium will offer beetle-themed activities such as beetle races featuring native and exotic beetles and “Beetle juice” and chocolate “chirp” cookies served in the Bug Appétit cafe.

            In the lobby will be pinned beetle “look-alikes” displayed with guitars resembling John, Paul, George and Ringo. (Yeah, they look just like them!) And children will be invited to learn how to pin a beetle and take home a mounted insect as a souvenir. We want to take home Ringo.

            Tickets to Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium, located at 423 Canal St. in downtown New Orleans in the U.S. Custom House, are $16.50 for adults, $12 for children and $13 for seniors. Admission is free for Audubon Nature Institute members.
            To watch a video of the Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium, where you can get up close and personal with bugs, click here.

It’s not weird, it’s down-right gross

            I had a run-in last night with a roach the size of Montana. I could have sworn the damn thing winked at me from my lampshade as if to say, “Try swatting me on this baby, bitch!” I sent in my best man, my brave son Taylor, who after knocking the imposter on to the floor managed to beat him into submission.

Audubon Insectarium in New Orleans offers an up-close view.

            It took four hours.            

            You know I’m kidding, but not by much. I live in South Louisiana where these suckers — called tree roaches — grow the size of dogs. OK, exaggerating again. In reality, they’re oversized, they fly and they multiply like rabbits in our humid, junglesque environment.

            And before you start judging the cleanliness of my home (Yahoo Answers will back me up!), we all have them, even those McMansion folks. I remember once walking the streets of New Orleans at night with tourists who have that romantic Tennessee Williams idea of the city in their heads. We were on Prytania, waiting to cross the street to take in a movie. Above us, flying around a streetlight, was a collection of these buggers. My tourist friends asked if they were small birds.

            In my husband’s haste pulling out of our driveway one night he knocked off our faucet and sent water everywhere. Our plumbers, who are now our best friends, raced to the rescue but the new faucet has left behind a small hole leading straight into the kitchen sink. Call it the super roach highway. It could be a pinhole and those nasty creatures would find a way in.

            So today, I will be closing the front door to the roach motel with a calking gun, then spraying everything in sight. Hopefully they won’t even check in. The only thing worst than a live roach is one dead on its back, waiting for your shoe, sending off a cracking noise that drowns out the TV.

            Now, if you’re one of those weird people who loves looking at creatures like this, the Audubon Institute in New Orleans has a fabulous Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium, located in the U.S. Custom House on Canal Street, that includes a Cockroach Chat, a live cam of the museum’s miniature New Orleans kitchen crawling with you know what. I've included a nice photo above of the Insectarium, because there was no way I was going to post a cockroach to my blog! I know my readers will thank me.