Students bug out with Klinger

 EDINBURG — Students in third through fifth grade at Dwight D. Eisenhower Elementary School oohed and ahhed at the amphibians, reptiles and insects “Jungle Jim” Klinger showed them during an assembly Tuesday. But their awe turned to terror when Klinger announced he would bring out a rattlesnake.

The students screamed and began to scoot back from where they were sitting in the school’s cafeteria. Some quickly caught on when the reptile Klinger took out lacked the signature “rattle.”

It was a bull snake, which is commonly confused with the other, venomous one, Klinger explained to the crowd.

Students in pre-kindergarten through second grade were equally impressed, screaming as Klinger brought out frogs, turtles, scorpions and tarantulas.

Klinger, who has been showing and teaching the public about arthropods, reptiles and amphibians for almost a decade, is in town this week presenting his critters to some elementary schools in Edinburg.

On Monday he visited Lyndon B. Johnson Elementary School. He plans to visit Treviño Elementary School today.

Klinger said he started collecting insects as a boy and decided to give up a career in marketing to educate children and adults about these creatures because no one has really done that before.

“I just think it is fascinating, kind of like chess,” said Klinger, who lives in Buda, Texas. “No game is the same. You never collect them all.”

Sandra Davis, the school librarian at Eisenhower, said she and staff members at the other schools decided to bring Klinger to their campuses to help students receive more hands-on experience with their science lessons.

After each presentation, the students lined up along the row of tables that held the critters’ cages. Some shouted and pointed at some of the creatures that scared them the most. Others walked by in silent amazement.

“My favorite insect probably was the walking stick,” said Victoria Gorena, an 8-year-old second-grader. “The only thing I didn’t like was the spiders. I’m terrified of them.”

Fourth-grader Zoia Gomez, 9, said she liked seeing the turtles since she owns one herself.

“I didn’t know that mine could live a long time,” she said.