Butterflies Return to AMNH, Closes 5/30

"The Butterfly Conservatory: Tropical Butterflies Alive in Winter," an annual favorite visited by millions of children and adults, returns to the American Museum of Natural History until May 30, 2011. Celebrating its thirteenth year at the Museum, this highly popular winter attraction transforms the iciest day into a summer escape, inviting visitors to mingle with up to 500 fluttering, iridescent butterflies among blooming tropical flowers and lush green vegetation in 80-degree temperatures. 

"The Butterfly Conservatory is a joyful, enchanting, and educational exhibition for both children and adults, and truly transports visitors out of their everyday lives into a magical setting teeming with color and flourishing life," said Ellen V. Futter, President of the American Museum of Natural History. "That's why it's one of our most popular exhibitions. We are proud to present this magical and beautiful exhibition that offers an instructive interactive experience and a unique opportunity to observe the diversity of nature in a re-created tropical forest environment filled with butterflies."

Con Edison is the presenting sponsor of the Butterfly Conservatory.

The Butterfly Conservatory

Visitors interact with butterflies inside a 1,200-square-foot vivarium, a freestanding structure aflutter with activity. Museum-goers stroll along a winding pathway surrounded by the varied leaves of tropical plants and trees and a riot of vibrant blossoms, including Pentas and Ixora. Powerful halide lamps shine down from the ceiling, simulating the sunlight that streams through a rain forest. Visitors outside the vivarium can watch through translucent walls as monarchs, zebra longwings, paper kites, and other butterfly species flutter among people and plants.

The Conservatory's butterflies come from farms in Florida, Costa Rica, Kenya, Thailand, Malaysia, Ecuador, and Australia. Among the included species are iridescent blue morpho butterflies, striking scarlet swallowtails, large owl butterflies, and beautiful green birdwings. Because the average life span of a butterfly is only two to three weeks, roughly 500 butterfly pupae will be shipped to the Museum weekly for the duration of the exhibit, and the butterflies will be released into the vivarium after emerging. Other pupae hang in a case in the vivarium, giving visitors a firsthand look as adult butterflies emerge from the chrysalis and fly away only hours after adjusting to their new surroundings. Video screens outside the vivarium will also display a short video of this process.

Also outside the vivarium, colorful educational displays explain the life cycle of butterflies, the worldwide efforts to protect their diverse habitats, and the variety of butterfly species in New York State. Visitors learn about interesting adaptations, from the colored scales that form butterfly wings' intricate designs to the intriguing relationships between butterflies and other animal species. (Monarchs, for instance, are toxic to birds.) Other panels explain how scientists rely on wild butterflies to gauge the health of an ecosystem and how the Museum's butterfly specimens offer a wealth of information to butterfly and moth researchers around the world.

Butterflies Online

Butterfly enthusiasts can visit the exhibition online at www.amnh.org by clicking on The Butterfly Conservatory link. There, they can watch longwings, swallowtails, and other species via a digital camera mounted in the vivarium and learn how to attract these magical creatures to their own backyards by creating a butterfly garden.

Organization

The Butterfly Conservatory is curated by Ward Wheeler, Curator and Chair of the Museum's Division of Invertebrate Zoology. The design director is David Harvey, Vice President for Exhibition.

American Museum of Natural History (amnh.org)

The American Museum of Natural History is one of the world's preeminent scientific, educational, and cultural institutions. Since its founding in 1869, the Museum has advanced its global mission to explore and interpret human cultures and the natural world through a wide-reaching program of scientific research, education, and exhibitions. The Museum accomplishes this ambitious goal through its wide-ranging facilities and resources. The institution houses 45 permanent exhibition halls, state-of-the-art research laboratories, one of the largest natural history libraries in the Western Hemisphere, and a Permanent Collection of more than 32 million specimens and cultural artifacts. The spectacular Frederick Phineas and Sandra Priest Rose Center for Earth and Space, which opened in February 2000, features the rebuilt Hayden Planetarium and striking exhibits about the universe and our planet. With a scientific staff of more than 200, the Museum supports research divisions in anthropology, paleontology, invertebrate and vertebrate zoology, and the physical sciences. With the launch of the Richard Gilder Graduate School in 2006, the American Museum of Natural History became the first American museum with the authority to grant the Ph.D. degree. The Museum welcomed 5 million visitors from around the world this year and has produced exhibitions and Space Shows that can currently be seen in venues on five continents, reaching an audience of millions more. In addition, the Museum's website, amnh.org, extends its collections, exhibitions, and educational programs to millions more beyond the Museum's walls.

At the American Museum of Natural History

The Museum offers a broad array of programs for adults, children, families, students, educators, and scientists. These range from special exhibitions to symposia, lecture series, workshops, and film festivals. Highlights include the Hayden Planetarium Space Show, Journey to the Stars, narrated by Whoopi Goldberg; Race to the End of the Earth (May 29, 2010-January 2, 2011), which recounts one of the most stirring tales of Antarctic exploration: the contest to be the first to reach the South Pole in 1911-1912; Highway of An Empire: The Great Inca Road (October 17, 2009-September 2011), an exhibition of more than 35 striking photographs featuring roads and trails built by the Inca six centuries ago; On Feathered Wings (June 21, 2008-May 1, 2011), an exhibition of more than 30 striking photographs featuring dramatic images of birds in flight; Vital Variety: A Visual Celebration of Invertebrate Biodiversity (ongoing), an exhibition of 23 large-format color photographs highlighting the immense diversity of invertebrates; Space Show Double Feature (Friday and Saturday evenings), shown in the Hayden Planetarium, back-to-back screenings of the Museum's first two Space Shows: Passport to the Universe (narrated by Tom Hanks), which launches visitors on a thrilling trip through space and time, and The Search for Life: Are We Alone? (narrated by Harrison Ford), which explores a question that has always captivated the imagination: does life exist beyond Earth?; and One Step Beyond, the popular monthly party series where guests can dance in the Museum's Cullman Hall of the Universe to sets by the biggest names in techno, electronica, hip-hop, and indie rock.

Hours

The Museum is open daily, 10 am-5:45 pm

The Museum is closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Space Show Hours

Journey to the Stars is shown every half hour Sunday-Thursday and Saturday, 10:30 am-4:30 pm, and Friday, 10:30 am-7 pm.

Admission

Suggested general admission, which supports the Museum's scientific and educational endeavors and includes 45 Museum halls and the Rose Center for Earth and Space, is $16 (adults) suggested, $12 (students/seniors) suggested, $9 (children) suggested. All prices are subject to change.

The Museum offers discounted combination ticket prices that include suggested general admission plus special exhibitions, IMAX films, and Space Shows.

Museum plus special exhibition, IMAX film, or Space Show: $24 (adults), $18 (students/seniors), $14 (children)

Museum Supersaver (includes all special exhibitions, IMAX film, and Space Show): $32 (adults), $24.50 (students/seniors), $20 (children)

Visitors who wish to pay less than the suggested Museum admission and also want to attend a special exhibition, IMAX film, or Space Show may do so only on-site at the Museum. To the amount they wish to pay for general admission, they should add $20 (adults), $16.50 (students/seniors), or $11 (children) for a Space Show, special exhibition, or IMAX film.

Public Information

For additional information, the public may call 212-769-5100 or visit the Museum's website at amnh.org.

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