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Bug-Obsessed Boy Visits UC Berkeley To Meet Hero, World's Leading Ant Expert

BERKELEY (CBS SF) – Calling 11-year-old Jasper Bagley obsessed about bugs is not an exaggeration. He leads a bug club of 35 members in his Southern California hometown and has pet tarantulas and scorpions.

Jasper finally fulfilled his childhood dream on Wednesday on the UC Berkeley campus, meeting renowned biologist Edward O. Wilson, the world's leading expert on ants.

"We know so much about the big animals, but we barely know as much about small animals like insects," Jasper said in a university statement.

Wilson, an emeritus professor at Harvard who is also known as the "father of sociobiology," was in Berkeley for a science conference. The scientist said the aspiring entomologist reminded him of a younger version of himself.

The meeting was arranged after Jasper missed an opportunity to hear him speak a year and a half ago.

Jasper said he would like to enter the field of studying bugs after studying at Berkeley or Harvard.

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