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A butterfly zoo is a zoo which is specifically intended for the breeding and display of butterflies. Some zoos do also deal animals with private customers.

Contents 1 History 2 Activities 3 List of butterfly Zoos or gardens 3.1 Americas 3.1.1 USA 3.1.2 Canada 3.1.3 Costa Rica 3.2 Europe 3.3 Asia 3.4 Oceania 4 Sources 5 Notes 6 External links

History

Live butterfly exhibits were popularized in England in the 1970s, appealing to British love for greenhouses and natural settings.

The first one in the United States, Butterfly World, was built in Coconut Creek, Florida, in 1988.

Activities

Butterfly Zoos are open to the public. A double-entry door is usually used to ensure that no butterflies escape.

Exploration of such zoos may be with a guide or on one's own, at leisure. Guided tours may last about fifteen minutes as the guide points out all the species of butterflies that are in the greenhouse that day (new shipments usually arrive weekly, and stocks vary). Guides may also show butterfly eggs, caterpillars, and chrysalids, and identify specific plants that are favored by each species. Between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. is usually the best time to see butterflies emerging from their pupae.

Butterflies are most active on warm and sunny days with little wind, because they require the heat of the sun to aid in their digestion. On rainy days, they usually hide in the flowers and leaves.

There are often many different species in such zoos, with stock including butterflies from Africa, Malaysia, South America, Thailand, New Guinea, Costa Rica, the Philippines, and other countries. The vibrant colors and patterns on the wings of the insects have earned them the fanciful nickname, "flying flowers."

Wear a light floral perfume, and wear bright-colored or bright-white clothing, to encourage them to land upon you, but never touch a butterfly. Butterflies are attracted to a bright Hawaiian print shirt for the same reason they are attracted to flowers, but your touch will cause damage to their sensitive wings because of the oils in our skin and their easily-damaged scales.

Adult butterflies live only one to two weeks, on average, during which time they must produce a new generation. Some species like the familiar Monarch butterfly, however, can live as long as six months in the wild.

List of butterfly Zoos or gardens

Americas

USA

• Ashland Nature Center Butterfly House, Delaware Nature Society, Hockessin, Delaware
• Bear Mountain Butterfly Sanctuary, Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania
• Bioworks Butterfly Garden, Museum of Science and Industry, Tampa, Florida
• Brookside Gardens, Wheaton, Maryland
• Butterfly Conservatory and Insect Zoo, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas
• Butterfly Garden, Bronx Zoo, The Bronx, New York
• Butterfly Garden, Museum of Science, Boston, Massachusetts
• Butterfly House, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
• Butterfly House, Missouri Botanical Garden, Chesterfield, Missouri
• Butterfly House, Whitehouse, Ohio
• Butterfly House, [[Dayton, Ohio Cox Arboretum MetroPark
• Butterfly Landing, Franklin Park Zoo, Boston, Massachusetts
• Butterfly Pavilion, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, California
• Butterfly Pavilion & Insect Center, Westminster, Colorado
• The Butterfly Farm, Birmingham Zoo, Birmingham, Alabama
• The Butterfly Place, Westford, Massachusetts
• Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center, Callaway Gardens, Pine Mountain, Georgia
• Cockrell Butterfly Center & Insect Zoo, Houston Museum of Natural Science, Houston, Texas
• Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville, Florida
• Frederik Meijer Gardens, Grand Rapids Township, Michigan
• Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory, South Deerfield, Massachusetts
• Magic Wings Butterfly House, North Carolina Museum of Life and Science, Durham, North Carolina
• Monsanto Insectarium, Saint Louis Zoological Park, St. Louis, Missouri
• The Montgomery Zoo, Montgomery, Alabama, is constructing a butterfly house which is planned to float in the natural lake that the zoo was built on.
• Orange County Native Butterfly House, The Environmental Nature Center, Newport Beach, California
• Puelicher Butterfly Wing,¹ Milwaukee Public Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Sertoma Butterfly House, Sioux Falls, South Dakota
• Tradewinds Park Butterfly World, Coconut Creek, Florida
• White River Gardens, Indianapolis Zoo, Indianapolis, Indiana

Canada

• Montreal Insectarium, Montreal, Quebec (with annual exhibit at the Jardin botanique de Montréal)
• Niagara Falls Butterfly Conservatory, Niagara Falls, Ontario
• Victoria Butterfly Gardens, Brentwood Bay, British Columbia
• Wings of Paradise Butterfly Conservatory, Cambridge, Ontario

Costa Rica

• San Jose Butterfly Farm,² San José

Europe

• Collodi Butterfly House³, Tuscany, Italy
• Magic of Life Butterfly House⁴, Rheidol Valley, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales, UK
• Seaforde Gardens and Butterfly House⁵, Seaforde, County Down, Northern Ireland
• Schmetterlinghaus⁶, Vienna, Austria
• Vlindertuin Dierenpark Emmen, Emmen, the Netherlands
• Vlindertuin, Knokke, Belgium
• Wroclawskie Zoo, Wroclaw, Poland

Asia

• Penang Butterfly Farm⁷, Penang, Malaysia. Houses some 5,000 butterflies of over 120 species.
• Butterfly Park, Bannerghatta National Park, Bangalore, India. 10,000 sq ft (1,000 m²) circular enclosure.
• Singapore Zoological Gardens - The Fragile Forest Enclosure (Singapore)
• Butterfly safari Park, Thenmala, Kerala (ecotourism in India)
• Butterfly garden, Wetland Park, Hong Kong.
• Butterfly garden, Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, Hong Kong.

Oceania

• Butterfly Sanctury, Kuranda, Queensland, Australia.⁸

Sources

• The Entomological Society of America

Notes

1. ^ Puelicher Butterfly Wing
2. ^ San Jose Butterfly Farm
3. ^ Collodi Butterfly House
4. ^ Magic of Life Butterfly House
5. ^ Seaforde Gardens and Butterfly House
6. ^ The Vienna butterfly house
7. ^ Penang Butterfly Park, Blog of the Penang Butterfly Farm
8. ^ Australian Butterfly Sanctuary

External links

• The Florida Museum of Natural History Butterfly Rainforest
• Insectarium de Montréal

v • d • e Zoos, aquaria and aviaries Zoo · Public aquarium · Aviary · Menagerie · Bear pit · Oceanarium · Marine mammal park · Dolphinarium · Safari park · Petting zoo · Reptile centre · Herpetarium · Serpentarium · Vivarium · Aquarium · Butterfly zoo · Nocturnal house · Tourist attraction · List of zoos · List of aquaria · List of dolphinariums · List of zoo associations · Animals in captivity · Behavioral enrichment · Immersion exhibit · Zookeeper  · Conservation biology · Biodiversity · Endangered species · Extinction · In-situ conservation · Ex-situ conservation · Captive breeding · Frozen zoo · Zoology  · Animal  · Mammal  · Bird  · Reptile  · Amphibian  · Fish  · Invertebrate  ·

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• This page was last modified on 6 January 2009, at 14:53.

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