Minibeast Wildlife was created by Deanna and Alan Henderson and has been operating as a leader in invertebrate education in Australia since 2005. We offer services Australia-wide and have an educational base in Melbourne and head office and invertebrate breeding facility in Kuranda, north QLD. The underpinning aim of the business is to promote an appreciation of invertebrates and the critical roles they play in order to stimulate improved conservation ethics in the community.
Minibeast Wildlife has four major components; out-reach education programs, an online shop supplying live captive-bred invertebrates Australia-wide, professional photographic and video services and invertebrate set-building and wrangling for factual media production. Minibeast Wildlife caters for international film crews producing nature documentaries featuring Australian invertebrates. Our credits include some of Sir David Attenborough’s productions and many others. Deanna and Alan Henderson manage Minibeast Wildlife together from Kuranda Queensland and also have a branch in Victoria.
The couple worked at Melbourne Museum from 1999 to 2010. They played key roles in the development of the extremely popular exhibition Bugs Alive! and were responsible for its ongoing operation, and the management of all living displays at the Museum.
Deanna and Alan have both presented at international conferences about live invertebrate breeding, display, and education. They are the authors of Bugs Alive! – A Guide to Keeping Australian Invertebrates, published by Museum Victoria. This book has received a 2008 Whitley Award, and won the 2009 ARAZPA (ZAA) Publication Award. They have authored two other books and produced the Award-winning spider identification app Spidentify.
Deanna has been working with wildlife for over 20 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’, and more recently ‘There’s a Zoo in my Backyard’.
Together with her husband Alan, she founded Minibeast Wildlife in 2005.
Alan has held a fascination for invertebrates his whole life. His other passion is macro photography and his images have been published in books throughout the world. He has authored the book ‘Minibeasts – True Rulers of our World and the Key to our Survival‘ and co-authored ‘Bugs Alive – a Guide to Keeping Australian Invertebrates’
Alan completed a BAppSc, 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.
Caitlin has vast experience managing captive invertebrates and finding them in the field. She is an accomplished writer and photographer and has authored numerous nature articles, scientific papers and was the lead writer of the award-winning Spidentify app. She has a strong online following and writes and photographs and photographs ‘She’s got Legs – Australian Spider and Insect Photography‘.
Caitlin worked at Melbourne Museum in the highly respected Live Exhibits Unit, and her spider knowledge and husbandry skills earned her the contracts to manage the live spiders in the Darwin and Brisbane Museum legs of the touring exhibition ‘Spiders Alive and Deadly’. Caitlin produces online educational content for Minibeast Wildlife.
Gerhard joined the Minibeast Wildlife team in 2016 to assist us with invertebrate husbandry. He is passionate about wildlife and has in depth knowledge about far north Queensland’s wet tropics. He is also a professional nature photographer and artist and operates the business Naturesface Art along with his partner Natasha.
Gerhard often accompanies Alan Henderson on photographic excursions documenting the amazing biodiversity of the wet-tropics. His keen eyes spotted the 2nd wild female Walaphyllium monteithi ever to be found. This female was the founder of one of Minibeast Wildlife’s Australian Leaf Insect breeding groups.
Judy resides in the invertebrate paradise of far north Queensland and has been part of our QLD team since 2013.
Judy assists with our weekly dispatch of live invertebrates, which are sent to schools, museums, universities and to households all over Australia.
Judy also assists in the animal husbandry duties from time, keeping the wide range of invertebrates fed.
