Stick insects are often overlooked, and that's the way they like it.
New Zealand is home to a wide variety of stick insects, from the horrid stick insect (Argosarchus horridus) with a body as long as your hand, to spiky creatures smaller than your little finger. Most species of stick insects are found in the tropics, so it's peculiar for a cool-temperate country like us to have so many, even a mountain stick insect (Mimarchus tarsatus) that lives in South Island tussock that's covered by snow all winter.
Although they're relatively common, stick insects excel in hiding. Our New Zealand species are flightless and defenceless. If discovered, they will sway gently like a twig in the breeze, or drop comatose to the ground, where can lay immobile for up to half an hour before reviving and climbing a tree again. The best way to find them is by beating.
Hold a white sheet or umbrella under a tree or shrub and hit the branches sharply with a stick and down they'll drop. Over the last few months the Whanganui Regional Museum has been doing that on field trips around Whanganui and the Manawatū, and we now have a half dozen stick insects of different species, sizes and colours in captivity.
Stick insects are easy to keep. They only need a regular supply of green leaves (pohutukawa seems to be a favourite) and an occasional spray with a plant mister. They're happy to be handled, and are a great "gateway insect" for children who might be nervous about handling a creepy-crawly, as they're completely harmless. They spend most of their time slowly munching on leaves and laying eggs.