Minibeast

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Minibeast" or "Minibeasts" is a term for a variety of arthropods and other invertebrates, including but not limited to spiders, ants, butterflies, bees, wasps, flies, woodlice [1],and many others. The United Kingdom-based Young People's Charitable Trust defines them as "small animals" in a factsheet written for young readers [2]. There is a "Minibeast Zooseum" in Michigan dedicated to invertebrates [3].

In Australia, minibeasts are very popular with children and are part of the school curriculum. Studying minibeasts is a very effective way to observe many biological concepts first hand, which is not possible with many larger animals. Life cycles, food chains, and bodily structure and function are just some of the basic elements of biological science which can be easily explained using minibeasts. "Bugs Alive!" at Melbourne Museum features a huge number of live minibeasts with detailed information about them, while services such as "Minibeast Wildlife" [4] and "Travelbugs" [5] take live minibeast to schools and provide educational resources.

[edit] See also

• Invertebrate
• Arthropod
• Insect
• Zoology
• Taxonomy
• Primary education
• National Curriculum

[edit] External references

• National Curriculum in Action Minibeast Tree Diagrams
• Wildlife Trust Minibeast Ride, with National Curriculum considerations
• Minibeast Wildlife Minibeast education, resources, and photographs
• Melbourne Museum - Bugs Alive! Resources, exhibition information, interactive web games
• Travelbugs Mobile minibeast education