World of the Insect, or the Insectarium, was the first and largest building in the world with the widest collection of six-legged species after opening in 1978. The zoo has received four AZA awards for this achievement, which also includes breeding of many rare species like the Hercules beetle, the Royal Goliath beetle, the Giant Southeast Asian Walking Stick and the Harlequin beetle. Not only does the building showcase invertebrates but it also is home to small animals that prey on them. like emperor tamarins, blue spiny lizards, horned frogs, dyeing poison dart frogs, green rough snakes, black tree monitors, silk spiders, and naked mole rats. Connected to the building is a separate walk-through atrium called the Butterfly Rainforest. It showcases African helmeted turtles, Andean cock-of-the-rocks, blue ground doves, Peruvian pigeons, golden-headed manakins, spangled cotingas, white-naped pheasant pigeons, African pygmy geese, and passion flower butterflies. Over seventy species are on display, but the building actually holds over 500,000 total animals. Currently the building holds baby walking sticks, whipscorpions, emperor scorpions, hissing cockroaches, leaf katydids, and spiny leaf insects.
