Name a Bronx Zoo Madagascar hissing cockroach after your Valentine

Seal it with a ‘hiss’ at www.bronxzoo.com/roach

B-roll video: Bronx Zoo Madagascar Hissing Cockroach B-roll.mov

NEW YORK – Feb 9, 2015 –
Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and there is one last minute gift that will last forever. WCS’s Bronx Zoo has brought back the Name-a-Roach – a light-hearted way to make sure your loved one knows your feelings will last a lifetime.

The original Name-a-Roach launched in 2011 and thousands of hopeless romantics from around the world have named real live Madagascar hissing cockroaches at WCS’s Bronx Zoo after their favorite loved one, “ex,” or mother-in-law. The zoo is again offering the opportunity to name a new crop of cockroaches for Valentine’s Day 2015. Each gift comes with a colorful certificate emailed to your loved one announcing that a cockroach has been named in his or her honor.

Visit www.bronxzoo.com/roach to place an order. Each name costs $10 and all proceeds will go to help the Wildlife Conservation Society save wildlife and wild places around the world. 

The zoo has plenty of roaches to name with thousands of the super-sized bugs on exhibit in Madagascar!—an award-winning habitat for lemurs, crocodiles, and many other species from the African island nation.

Madagascar hissing cockroaches are the world’s largest roach species reaching nearly four-inches long.  The namesake hissing noise is emitted as a defense mechanism.  Like nearly every roach species, Madagascar hissing cockroaches are not considered pests and rarely enter homes.

To learn more about the Madagascar hissing cockroach, visit WCS’s Wild View photo blog at http://blog.wcs.org/

CONTACT:

Max Pulsinelli: 718-220-5182; mpulsinelli@wcs.org
Steve Fairchild: 718-220-5189; sfairchild@wcs.org

The Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo

is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. weekdays, 5:30 p.m. weekends from April to October; 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m November to March.

Adult admission is $16.95, children (3-12 years old) $12.95, children under 3 are free, seniors (65+) are $14.95. Parking is $15 for cars and $18 for buses. The Bronx Zoo is conveniently located off the Bronx River Parkway at Exit 6; by train via the #2 or #5 or by bus via the #9, #12, #19, #22, MetroNorth, or BxM11 Express Bus service (from Manhattan that stops just outside the gate.) To plan your trip, visit bronxzoo.com or call 718-367-1010. Follow @TheBronxZoo.

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)MISSION: WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. VISION: WCS envisions a world where wildlife thrives in healthy lands and seas, valued by societies that embrace and benefit from the diversity and integrity of life on earth. To achieve our mission, WCS, based at the Bronx Zoo, harnesses the power of its Global Conservation Program in more than 60 nations and in all the world’s oceans and its five wildlife parks in New York City,  visited by 4 million people annually. WCS combines its expertise in the field, zoos, and aquarium to achieve its conservation mission. Visit: www.wcs.org; http://www.facebook.com/TheWCS; http://www.youtube.com/user/WCSMedia  Follow: @thewcs.

Photo Credit: Julie Larsen Maher © WCS