Wellington Zoo's New Behind-the-Scenes Experience Lets You Get Up Close with Creepy Crawlies

Wellington Zoo's behind-the-scenes encounters already allow visitors to come face-to-face with a cheetah, hang around with the world's largest rodent and cuddle red pandas. In its newest hands-on experience you'll get to meet what the Zoo is calling "nature's most marvellous, mysterious and misunderstood animals."

Not one for the squeamish — during the new Minibeasts Behind the Scenes experience visitors will get to see emperor scorpions, black tarantulas, giant African millipedes and goliath stick insects up close and personal. If that doesn't get you hot and bothered, the Zoo's humid reptile and invertebrate habitat definitely will.

Inside the temperature controlled Hero HQ an expert keeper will introduce each of the elusive creepy crawlies. Team Leader of Reptiles and Invertebrates, Dave Laux says, "Participants will hear about the important role that these Minibeasts play in their ecosystem, and hopefully discover a newfound passion for invertebrates."

Visitors will also get to watch a keeper health check a few of the species and learn how the Zoo supports conservation projects to help save wildlife and wild places. It's probably also worth noting that participants will not have physical contact with any live animals during the experience.

The Minibeasts experience takes 30-minutes and is open to those aged six and above — brave souls under 14 will need to be accompanied by a participating adult. The experience takes place at 2.30pm every Friday, Saturday and Sunday and costs $99 per person, including free Zoo entry. There is a maximum of four people per experience.

Ten percent of proceeds from every Behind the Scenes experience will go towards conservation projects supported by Wellington Zoo.

For more information about Wellington Zoo's Minibeasts Behind the Scenes experience, visit wellingtonzoo.com.