New exhibit features live butterflies

By Taylor Retter

An exhibition opening next month at the Canadian Museum of Nature and running throughout the winter will feature hundreds of live butterflies.

Open from Dec. 16 to April 2, the exhibit Butterflies in Flight will include more than 20 species of butterflies fluttering around a tropical habitat created in the lower level of the McLeod Street museum.

It will be the museum’s first display dedicated entirely to live butterflies. There were only a few monarchs included in the museum’s recent Bugs Outside the Box exhibit, according to Nicole Dupuis, a CMN exhibition content developer.

Dupuis said the museum will purchase the butterflies as pupae, so visitors will be able to observe the butterfly nursery and special racks constructed for the chrysalides to develop.

Each of the racks will hold up to 500 chrysalides at a time, and the exhibit will feature newborn butterflies every other week.

The project has been a year in the making, said Dupuis. Rigorous steps were taken to ensure the humane treatment of all the butterflies involved.

“We’re really lucky here at the museum,” she said. “We have a really great animal care facility and really talented people that know how to take care of all types of insects and other animals.”

Parts of the museum needed to be redesigned. While the solarium to be used for the exhibit was already constructed, the space will have to be much hotter and more humid than it is normally.

“Visitors will want to take their jackets off before they go into the space, but it’ll be a nice antidote to what’s going on outside —especially in January,” Dupuis said.

Edward Bruggink, who has managed the Carleton University butterfly show for 18 years, echoed that statement. He said greenhouse temperatures will vary depending on outside conditions, but it typically fluctuates between 25 and 35 C.

The CMN exhibit will feature a number of biology lessons for those who visit. In addition to hands-on interactive activities, museum staff will be on hand to answer any questions guests may have and share special facts about the species on display.

The museum website said the exhibit will tell the public about “threats to butterflies, how to encourage wildlife to visit your garden, monarch migration, how they’re built.”

Dupuis stressed the importance of creating a welcoming space for butterflies in your own gardens.

“They are really great pollinators. It’s not just bees that pollinate; we also rely on butterflies to pollinate all the fruits and vegetables that we eat.”

Guests to the exhibit can also take part in a crowd-sourced public art installation. Visitors will be encouraged to create an origami butterfly that will be displayed with hundreds of others in the corridor leading to the solarium.

Dupuis said she hopes Butterflies in Flight will introduce visitors to the “magical experience” of being in the solarium, a feeling sure to be magnified by having the colourful insects flying all around.

The exhibit requires a special ticket, a $5 price above regular museum admission. The show is free for members and Tiny Tots up to age 2.