The San Diego Zoo now has the rarest insect in the world on display.
Driving the news: Visitors can visit the zoo to see the critically endangered Lord How Island stick insect, which is on display for the first time in North America.
- The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, which has been working with Australia’s Melbourne Zoo to sustain the insect’s population, announced that the insects are displayed in a special habitat at the zoo’s Wildlife Explorers Basecamp.
- While the insect was previously thought to be extinct, it was rediscovered in 2001 on the Lord Howe Island Group. Two pairs were taken for breeding to the Melbourne Zoo.
- In 2012 the San Diego Zoo partnered with the Melbourne Zoo to save the insect.
- The Lord Howe Island stick insect is also known as tree lobsters and can grow up to six inches.
