Deanna Henderson

Deanna has been working with wildlife for over 13 years. She studied zoology at Melbourne University and developed a fascination for small wildlife, namely invertebrates.

She was a founding member of the Live Exhibits Unit at Melbourne Museum. During 11 years at the Museum, she was an integral part of the development of the hugely successful exhibition, Bugs Alive!

She has presented papers at conferences both nationally and internationally, and also co-authored the award winning book ‘Bugs Alive – a Guide to Keeping Australian Invertebrates’.

Together with her husband Alan, she founded Minibeast Wildlife in 2005.

Alan Henderson

Alan has held a fascination for invertebrates his whole life. His other passion is photography and his images have been published in books througout the world.

Alan completed a BSc, Scientific Photography at RMIT University before beginning his zoo keeping career in Ballarat. He created the Australian Nature Education Centre in 1995 and received the Young Australian of the Year Regional Development Award for the Centre.

He was lured to Melbourne Museum and began the Live Exhibits Unit, which ultimately led to the development of the extremely popular ‘Bugs Alive!’ exhibition. He coordinated the Unit for 11 years before leaving to operate Minibeast Wildlife full-time. His expertise in working with live invertebrates have taken him around the world, including the jungles of Costa Rica.

Ron "Prenda" Prendagast

Prenda is a qualified zookeeper who really has been working with animals since he was knee high to a grasshopper!

As a fresh faced teenager he started in a number of small animal parks before moving to Zoo's Victoria where he worked for 28 years. During this time he worked with a very diverse range of animals from octopus to elephants!

He also worked in Zoo Education for a number of years, has a background in amateur theatre and has been with Minibeast Wildlife since 2007. His presentations are always entertaining, engaging and educational

...Oh! And he's probably the only person you will ever meet who has been bitten by a tiger!

Sue Xuereb

Sue has always had a keen interest in animals great and small. After high school she was employed by the Melbourne Zoo as a zoo keeper. At first she worked within the Primate Department, and was fortunate to be involved in looking after Mzuri, the baby gorilla.

Sue then spent some time working within the Native Mammal department. At this time plans were under way to build the now famous Butterfly House at the Zoo. She became involved with the breeding of the butterflies and was absolutely fascinated with the whole process. She spent more than ten years working within the Invertebrate Department, eventually becoming Keeper in Charge.

Sue joined the Minbeast Wildlife team in 2009.

Caitlin Henderson

Caitlin has grown up surrounded by minibeasts. As far as Cailtin is concerned normal household animals are spiders, insects, reptiles and frogs...well aren't they?

She has a great deal of experience managing captive invertebrates and finding them in the field. She is an accomplished writer, and has already authored over 30 nature articles for newspapers in Victoria and Queensland. She a 2012 recipient of a Hot Desk Fellowship from the Wheeler Centre.

Caitlin also works at Melbourne Museum in the highly respected Live Exhibits Unit, responsible for managing 'Bugs Alive!' and the other world class living exhibits. Her role involves the husbandry of a huge range of invertebrate species, as well as fish, reptiles, amphibians and birds.