The Key to Learning? Make it Fun! Nature Comics with Rosemary Mosco

It’s all too common for science to feel “over our heads” and unreachable, but this cartoonist has found a way to bring together facts and humor to create one of the most enjoyable learning experiences out there.

Double ant butts, silly bird antics, and weird mating rituals are just a few of Rosemary Mosco’s subjects. With adorably illustrated comics, she’s helping even the most unscientific among us find humor and even a little wonder in the world around us.

Delivering science facts in a way that delights more than just a drive for knowledge, her comics connect to us somewhere deeper—perhaps, the silly bone—where we can take a step back and fully embrace and enjoy how utterly odd this world we live in is.

Stuff like… these:

Comics are a way for me to appreciate the natural world in all of its cuteness and horribleness and wonder.

—Rosemary Mosco

I don’t know about you, but my time learning about biology, evolution, and the natural world in school wasn’t full of laughter. Although, if these comics were around when I was younger, my interest in our wacky world may have been sparked far earlier in life.

She helps us take a moment to giggle at the urges and actions that evolution has left us and our fellow creatures pursuing, however odd they are. It reminds me of how fun it was to learn on The Magic School Bus as a kid!

Humor is a powerful learning tool. Whether it’s odd mating performances, silly arguments over verbiage in the science community, or calls for action to help the planet, Rosemary has a way of reaching across the line of science into the everyman’s world. She helps each person who sees her comic feel welcome to observe and enjoy the natural world we’re all a part of!

Here’s Rosemary herself (with a bird on her head) in a video from Science Friday to show us how she does it. Enjoy!

Interested in seeing more content from SciFri? Head over to their YouTube channel!

More of Rosemary’s comics can be found on her Instagram and her website! You can purchase wonderful prints of her work here.

Rosemary is also an author of some really fantastic books! Some hit titles are Birding Is My Favorite Video Game, Solar System: Our Place in Space, Butterflies are Pretty…Gross!, A Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching, and the NYT best-selling The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid. 

You better bet you’ll find a few of these titles on my coffee table.

Here are a few of my favorite pieces:

The world is FULL of humor, if only we just look!

From watching a bunch of squirrels figure out a new obstacle, to trying to imagine what birds are saying to one another, there’s so much wonder and joy right under our noses that we often aren’t privy to.

Thankfully, science communicators like Rosemary are here to help each of us connect to this world. It isn’t just for the people with master’s and doctorate degrees to explore and enjoy; it’s for all of us. You and I are living in this world right alongside that beetle that pretends to be an ant’s butt, and that’s something to celebrate!

Before you leave this article, make sure you give Rosemary a follow on Instagram so you’ll never miss her little windows into this hilariously complex world of ours. When her posts pop up in my feed, they never fail to make me giggle!

For some of my favorite creatures whose antics have given me a giggle, make sure you check out these articles next!

As always, my friend, stay open to new possibilities!

• Sam

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