Gray Kitty and the Cockroaches

Did you know that our Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches do outreach? Aside from those that live in the exhibit tank in the Insect Village, we keep some smaller cages of “celebrity” cockroaches that are for the up close and personal interactions with guests at the Science Center, at birthday parties, special events, Science on Wheels trips and more.


The other day, Discovery Corps Coordinator Portia Riedel needed to bring a pair of handling roaches to a recruiting event off-site. Because she didn’t have time to pick them up in the morning before the event, she brought them home with her the night before. The following series of pictures shows what happened when she introduced her cat, Gray Kitty, to the cockroaches.

As Portia describes it, “She wasn’t in attack mode – she just wanted to love them!

Incidentally, the Discovery Corps program is now accepting applications for Class 28 – starting this summer. Do you know a teen who is interested in science? Application information is here: http://www.pacificsciencecenter.org/Discovery-Corps/discoverycorps