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NEWS RELEASE

09-11-03

Contacts:
Terri Howard, Entomology Club, (515) 292-3556
Barbara McManus, Agriculture Communications, (515) 294-0707
Teddi Barron, News Service, (515) 294-4778

BUG SNACKS, INSECT ZOO SHARE TOP BILLING AT ISU'S INSECT HORROR FILM FESTIVAL, SEPT. 18

AMES, Iowa -- It's a twist on the traditional dinner and a movie. The Insect Horror Film Festival at Iowa State University will feature bug snacks and an insect zoo, along with a film.

The festival will be Thursday, Sept. 18, at 6 p.m. in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union. The film, "Eight Legged Freaks," will be shown at 7:30 p.m. It is rated PG-13.

The Iowa State Entomology Club sponsors the festival, which is free and open to the public.

"The festival seeks to increase public awareness about insects," said Terri Howard, club president and a junior from Orient. "Many people are afraid of insects because that is what they have learned as they grew up."

The festival also introduces the public to a practice that is common in other parts of the world: eating insects.

"People eat them because they are high in protein," Howard said.

Club members will hand out mealworm and cricket suckers as snacks from 6 to 7:30.

Bug displays and the Iowa State insect zoo will give attendees the opportunity for some up-close, quality time with giant millipedes, Madagascar hissing cockroaches, hornworm caterpillars and tarantulas.

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