Exhibition “World of Spiders” in the Winter Garden

Most of people are afraid of spiders, however if one looks at them more carefully, one can realize that they are beautiful and unusual creatures indeed. Now citizens and guests of the city of Brest have an opportunity to get acquainted with the wonderful world of spiders more closely at the exhibition of live giant tarantulas opened in the Winter garden and timed to the International Children's Day and the beginning of summer holidays.

More than 50 spider species from the collection of the BrSU zoology and phenetics laboratory are displayed at the exhibition. The most interesting specimens are present at the exposition. A number of the “exhibits” are already 5-8 years old and some of them come up to 28 centimeters in size.

Currently the collection numbers specimens from various regions of the world: Equatorial Africa, South and Central America, Mediterranean region, South-East Asia. Some species are endangered, only few of them are left in the wild life, for example, a rare species Brachypelma which is under protection. The insectarium includes also one the most dangerous and aggressive specimens - Pterinochilus murinus, also known as “starburst” referencing to its particular orange colour. Orange Baboon Tarantula is able to attack even from vertical surfaces.

Though it is strictly forbidden to touch the spiders, visitors are allowed to hold exuviae - the remains of an exoskeleton that is left after an ecdysis - in their own hands, while a film about the life of these predators is on in the Conference Hall of the Winter Garden throughout the whole exhibition.

Moreover, visitors can have all their questions answered by the qualified exhibition curators: Head of the Educational and research laboratory of genetics and phenetics Renata K. Demeshko and lecturer of the Department of Zoology and Genetics Viktor V. Demeshko.

There are also other invertebrates displayed at the exposition: giant Madagascar hissing cockroaches, giant African land snails, stick insects (or “walking branches”), Zophobas.

Besides live invertebrates one can have a look at a big entomological collection of preserved insects from the BrSU Biology Museum under the patronage of the Head of the Museum Andrey N. Molosh.

Winter Garden