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 Stickand the Harlequin beetle. Not only does the building showcase invertebrates but it also is home to small animals that prey on them in the "What Eats Insects" area along with a burrow exhibit for naked mole rats. There is a long line of plastic tubes that travel throughout half the building, containing millions of leaf-cutter ants in the longest ant exhibit in the country. Connected to the building is a separate walk-through atrium called the Butterfly Rainforest showcasing hundreds of small birds and butterflies native to South America. 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.
