Beetle expert Darren Mann hunting for dung beetles

Meet a scientist who digs in poo to find dung beetles!

Darren Mann, Senior Collections Manager at Oxford University Museum of Natural History

Darren Mann is a dung beetle expert who looks after a huge collection of insects at Oxford University Museum of Natural History. You can read a full interview with him in Whizz Pop Bag: INCREDIBLE INSECTS!

Darren had so many brilliant stories to share that we couldn’t fit them all in the issue, so here’s some more from the man who digs in poo to find dung beetles…

“I’ve been obsessed with insects since I was at junior school.”

In my early teens, I joined the Amateur Entomologist’s Society and through their magazine I learnt lots of new things and that there were even more books on insects! Remember, this is before the internet existed. Through this group I bought a secondhand copy of A Coleopterists’ Handbook’ – an entire book on beetles, including how to find them, and this became my instruction manual for the next few years and what got me interested in beetles.

A dung beetle in some dung! Photo: Darren Mann

“The first time I went through the entire process of collecting, preserving, and identifying specimens on my own, I felt a real sense of achievement.”

I went out again, and again, and, well you get the picture. I spent hours searching dung, finding beetles, and because I did it so much, I got quite good at finding and identifying them. I became the Warwickshire county recorder for dung beetles and their allies and found some quite rare ones, including a few species not discovered in the county before. The excitement of getting a first county record has never worn off and it is always a privilege to be the first person to find something new.

“I’ve now worked at the Oxford Museum of Natural History for over 20 years”

My favourite space is the Westwood Room, named after the first professor of Zoology at Oxford – John O. Westwood. It has an open fireplace carved with a hawkmoth and stag beetle life cycle, hanging above is a portrait of the great beetle hunter, the Reverend Canon Fowler, and it housed the British Insect collection, including all the dung beetles.

“I’m currently working on a project moving over a million British insects into a new space”

One of the museum’s major projects, supported through The National Lottery Heritage Fund is HOPE for the Future which aims to move all the British insects out of the Westwood Room and into new storerooms in shiny new pest proof cabinets. The room will then be refurbished to accommodate teaching, workshops, exhibitions and maybe even some bug handling sessions. The first stage in any large project is applying for funding, you need money to employ people and buy stuff. We spent many hours working on the application, discussing logistics, costings, and delivery plans. With over a million British insects, we needed extra help. Training and working with volunteers is an important part of my role. For this project, there was a team of twelve volunteers, counting and cataloguing the insect collection – this took quite a long time due to the sheer number of insects involved.

Moving the beetle collection. Photo: Oxford University Museum of Natural History

“I dream of going dung beetling in medieval Britain!”

Many of our insects were collected by famous entomologists from places that I have also visited. It gives you a sense of connection to the Victorian bug hunters and sometimes a little beetle envy creeps in, as many of their old haunts have been lost or the species is now almost extinct in the UK. If there is ever a time machine built, I want to go dung beetling in medieval Britain, searching the dung of the extinct Aurochs and visit Deal sandhills with Commander JJ Walker before it was developed into a golf course. 

“I also give tours at the museum”

Another aspect of my job is public engagement, talking to people about the Museum and the collections, giving behind the scenes tours and hosting visitors and researchers. I can generally manage to slip in a dung beetle anecdote or two. I get requests for help with insect identification, sometimes a blurry photograph in an e-mail, sometimes a dead ‘thing’ in a jar left at the front desk. These can be challenging, but always fun and sometimes surprising. One person contacted me with a picture of a European rhinoceros beetle found in their garden moth trap. This 5cm long beetle was probably imported with plants from Italy to the local garden centre and flew a few hundred metres to their garden. If our climate gets warmer, one day it may become established like so many other introduced insects.

Beetle expert Darren Mann talks to Whizz Pop Bang science magazine about his love of insects and how he got his job as a collections manager at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Darren at work. Photo: Darren Mann

“If you want to become an entomologist, enthusiasm is so important.”

You could join clubs and societies that are relevant to your interests. It helps you meet with likeminded people, gives you access to a magazine and website full of the latest news and articles, and shows prospective employers that you are dedicated to your subject, especially if you have been a member for a long time.

I have read hundreds of application forms and interviewed lots of people. Those that make it to my short list are there because their interest and enthusiasm shines through. Applying for jobs can be quite nerve wracking but never over embellish your CV or exaggerate claims at interview. If you don’t know the answer, say so and then make an educated guess. You are more likely to earn respect by being honest and showing you can apply some lateral thinking or problem-solving skills. 

The Oxford University Museum of Natural History’s incredible insect collection is free to visit – find out more here!


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Poster inviting kids to try cricket pasta at Nord Anglia School Dubai

Cricket pasta tasting with kids and teachers in Dubai

Did you know Whizz Pop Bang whizzes around the world to kids in many different countries? Yep, we have readers in Australia, America, Germany, New Zealand, Holland and Dubai (please let us know if you read it in another country and we’ve missed you out!). Kids learning English as a second language love reading Whizz Pop Bang because it’s fun and easy to read. Expat kids love reading it because it’s not easy to get hold of English magazines in some countries.

Now what’s all this about crickets in pasta? Well here at Whizz Pop Bang we actively encourage kids to be open-minded and to try new things, and with the need to find more sustainable sources of protein to feed our growing population, we’ve been giving kids the opportunity to try eating insects. Check out these super mini scientists at a school in Dubai trying a food of the future – cricket pasta!

Made by Bugsolutely in Thailand, cricket pasta is a genius way to include sustainable protein in a quick and easy meal. Cook it and serve with pesto, with a tomato sauce or a creamy sauce and you have a nutritious meal and one that doesn’t require any additional protein.

Were your kids involved in a Whizz Pop Bang cricket pasta tasting? Let us know what they thought in the comments box below, or email hello@whizzpopbang.com. If you’d like to subscribe to Whizz Pop Bang THE awesome science magazine for kids just click here.


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BFG-big-friendly-giant-roald-dahl

What’s On in September: THE BRITISH SCIENCE FESTIVAL, SWANSEA

British Science Festival, Swansea

What’s On in September: THE BRITISH SCIENCE FESTIVAL

Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th September, at the National Waterfront Museum, Swansea. 

Now this sounds like loads of fun; 2 days of Roald Dahl-themed hands-on science fun for all the family, what could be better?! Events include an Astronaut Bootcamp, 3D Space Show, Marine explorers, Splendiferous Science Show, Sealife Safari and LOADS more! They’ve even got a whizzpopping Roald Dahl science show with CBBC’s science communicator Jon Chase, pretty awesome huh?

All tickets are free, but booking is recommended at www.britishsciencefestival.org

Here’s what they say on the website:
“We’re celebrating Roald Dahl’s centenary with a scientific take on his books. CBBC’s Jon Chase reveals the Splendiferous Science in Dahl’s tales and we’ve left a trail of golden tickets for you to follow and claim a prize… keep your gogglers peeled for everything from frightswiping Gremlins to scrumdiddlyumptious chocolate!

We’ve also teamed up with the Marina Market to talk about food. You can take a taste test, learn how to keep yourself healthy, and explore the chemistry in your kitchen. There are even some insects for you to eat… if you’re brave enough!

‘Marine Explorers’ venture out and investigate everything that lives in the sea. Get onto Swansea University’s research boat ‘Noctiluca’, which is moored on the quay at the Waterfront Museum. You can control an underwater robot, explore scientific survey equipment, observe underwater video footage and be captain of the ship.”

Don’t forget to share your photos with us on Facebook or Instagram and tell us all about the best bits! #BSF16

10th and 11th September
National Waterfront Museum and surrounding venues including Swansea Museum and the Dylan Thomas Theatre
Open 11am-4pm
FREE!

https://www.britishsciencefestival.org/family-weekend/

British Science Festival supporters


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Kids are you ready to taste the foods of the future?

Eating Foods Of The Future At Cheltenham Science Festival 2016

Whizz Pop Bang introduced eating insects (entomophagy) to the Cheltenham Science Festival; inviting kids and their families to try ‘foods of the future’. These are just some of the kids who tried pasta and flapjacks made with crickets, we think the smiles say it all!

In issue 7 of Whizz Pop Bang we introduced our readers to the concept of eating grubs as a sustainable source of protein. Now as a forward-thinking kids science magazine we’re all about looking into the future 🙂 So we got in touch with a company in Thailand, called Bugsolutely, who make pasta using 20% cricket flour mixed with 80% wheat flour, and asked them if they’d send us some boxes to try. Three weeks later a large box arrived full of pasta ready for our trials. We sent out a newsletter inviting Whizz Pop Bang subscribers to take part, and within minutes we were inundated with families wanting to taste cricket pasta! So we set up individual trials, and took the pasta to Cheltenham Science Festival to find out firsthand what the kids thought.

And the results?

Whizz Pop Bang Science Magazine foods of the future

In the style of Innocence smoothies, we asked people to vote with their rubbish. So we had a ‘YES! I’d definitely buy this’ bin, and a ‘NO! It’s not my cup of tea’ bin. The results speak for themselves, it’s a resounding YES please to buying foods made with insects in the UK!

The double page spread in February’s issue of our magazine, introducing the idea of eating grubs:

Whizz Pop Bang science magazine for kids eating insects

Feed the World – By the year 2050 there will be over 9 billion people living on Planet Earth. With all these extra mouths to feed, there is a real risk of a global food crisis developing. Farm animals are responsible for producing almost a third of the greenhouse gasses that are contributing to global warming. They also need lots of land and drink lots of water, so we need a more sustainable solution.

“The way we farm our food is going to have to change. We can’t keep farming like we do today, or we won’t be able to produce enough food and look after our environment at the same time.” Dr Sarah Beynon, an insect expert and farmer.

Insects – the taste of the future Like it or not, we are all going to have to make changes to the way we eat in the future, and scientists like Dr Beynon think that insects will soon become a normal part of our diet.

 

 


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