UF’s second annual Bug Week has the community buzzing about the jump from being completely online to having two live events this year.
These included a live Twitter chat on Wednesday and two weeklong scavenger hunts ending on Friday, said Jennifer Gillett-Kaufman, associate extension scientist and technical adviser for Bug Week.
Wednesday’s lunchtime Twitter event gave participants the chance to have their bug-related questions answered by experts.
One user discovered that lovebugs, commonly found in the Southeast, are native to Mexico and Central America and aren’t actually made by UF.
“Everyone has insect questions,” said Rebecca Baldwin, an undergraduate coordinator in the UF department of entomology and nematology.
The scavenger hunts, one for faculty, staff and students, and the other for families, sent participants on a campus-wide quest to take photos and answer bug-related questions.
“I think the scavenger hunt is really cool because it gives people who are here a chance to do something, get outside and have a lot of fun,” said Carolyn Huntley, 24, a UF forest resources and conservation masters student.
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 5/22/2014 under the headline "UF’s 2nd Annual Bug Week moves online"]