Invertebrates or "animals without backbones" comprise the majority of life on this planet with some estimates indicating that 95% to 99% of all animal species are invertebrates. Their diversity is staggering and their importance to the planet is irreplaceable in food webs and in the maintenance of ecosystems, as pollinators and recyclers. Pollination by bees, beetles, flies, and butterflies is essential to the survival of many plants, our own survival, and much of our agricultural industry. Recycling by termites, dung beetles, burying beetles, and various species of flies maintains the health of environments, reduces the spread of disease, and releases nutrients for reuse in the environment.

Invertebrates are also major and often rather expensive food items in many cultures: from crabs, lobsters, and shrimp to squid and octopus to various caterpillars and beetle grubs. In addition other foods and products produced by invertebrates have found their uses in human society, e.g., honey, wax, silk, shellac, dyes, etc.

Some invertebrates can even be assigned the title of conservationist. Tsetse flies (Glossina sp.) have probably helped to save more wildlife in Africa than any conservation organization. By transmitting trypanosomids, causing sleeping sickness in humans and nagana in cattle, they have effectively excluded people and their domestic livestock from colonizing large parts of Africa allowing these areas to be set aside for wildlife.

For zoos, the current rational for their existence and importance has been education, research, and the conservation of species, habitats, and ecosystems. However, most of their emphasis has been with the "charismatic megavertebrates." With invertebrates there are no limits to their education, research, and conservation potential.

The charismatic megavertebrates should only be part of the emphasis in todayıs conservation community. E.O. Wilson (1987) once said, "If human beings were not so impressed by size alone, they would consider an ant more wonderful than a rhinoceros." We do need save rhinos and inform people about their plight but we also need to let them know about "the little things that run the world" (Wilson, 1987). It must be remembered that all species are interconnected, loss of any part may lead to instability and collapse. "If invertebrates become extinct, the world as we know it would cease to exist." (Wilson, 1987).

Despite their diversity and importance in sustaining life through pollination, decomposition and nutrient recycling, integrity of food webs, maintenance of ecological communities, invertebrates have traditionally been a relatively neglected group of animals within the conservation community. For most people, from the general public to conservationists, the conservation of invertebrates rarely comes to mind. Yet many invertebrates are disappearing before our very eyes.