Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium (Closed) Audubon Insectarium closing

Unfortunate indeed. Depending on your definitions, this could count as the first major zoological institution in the US to close because of the pandemic.

At least it looks like much of their collection will have a new home at the aquarium building; hopefully the rest of their collection finds their way to other facilities that specialize with insects - Saint Louis and Cincinnati, for example.
 
Terrible news. The Insectarium was one of the major American zoos that I never visited even though I did road trips through Louisiana in 2010, 2012 and 2015. It might 'only' have showcased invertebrates, but it looked like an amazing niche institution. The facility was obviously never as popular as the local zoo and aquarium, but it was highly regarded as one of the world's great insect zoos and its demise is a sad loss.
 
I had the pleasure to meet and interact with staff who work at the insectarium at the AZA New Orleans Conference last year. I never would’ve known that the museum would close; I didn’t make it in my priorities to visit there at the time. At least the creatures in their care are in good hands at the aquarium.
 
Absolutely heartbreaking. A couple of insect hobbyists in my social circle compared this to "closing the Louvre" and they're not wrong. It's comforting their collection is getting shifted to other facilities, but losing a location so dedicated to arthropods is rough.
 
Xenarthra said:
Absolutely heartbreaking. A couple of insect hobbyists in my social circle compared this to "closing the Louvre" and they're not wrong. It's comforting their collection is getting shifted to other facilities, but losing a location so dedicated to arthropods is rough.
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I really hope that they move the exhibits and concepts as well as the collection. From all appearances it seemed to be a spectacular place for insect appreciation and education. Their Bug Kitchen is legendary. I was seriously wanting to visit New Orleans primarily to see the insectarium.
 
I am super interested to see this completed, I will absolutely have to make a trip to NO once it is done.
 
I`m so glad this is happening...not for nothing did we include the old insectarium in the 20 specialist collections at the back of "America`s Top 100". At the time it was my favourite invert display in the world...until I went to Tokyo`s Tama Zoo that is!
 
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