The state of Butterfly exhibits in zoos (and nature)

DavidBrown

DavidBrown

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
In a recent thread several of us discussed what the true "superstar" species are that zoos build exhibits around.

Butterflies were frequently mentioned and the only invertebrates that seemed to be regarded by consensus as true zoo superstars.

This made me curious about what the state of butterfly exhibits is in the U.S. and around the world.

What are the model exhibits for butterflies, or are they mostly interchangeable?

Butterfly exhibits seem to be mainly seasonal most places, which makes sense given the fragile nature of butterfly species and their high maintenance needs (e.g., dependance of live plants and special climatic controls).

The one permanent butterfly exhibit that I have visited is the rain forest dome at the California Academy of Sciences which features free-flying neotropical butterflies and birds. Do any of the zoo indoor rain forest exhibits feature butterflies? As I recall the Bronx Zoo's butterflies were in a specialized tent structure, not in any of the indoor mixed species exhibits.

North American zoo butterfly exhibits seem to mostly feature neotropical and/or North American butterfly species which makes sense geographically, but I'm curious if there are any Asian or African butterfly species on display anywhere in North America

Do European zoos with butterfly exhibits feature mainly European species, and likewise do Asian zoos feature Asian butterfly species?

For the lepidopterists or zoo insect people out there, what are the superstar butterfly species in zoo displays? Morphos seem to be big in the U.S.

Lastly, where have people experienced spectacular butterfly viewing in nature (i.e., where are the world's best natural butterfly exhibits)?

If anyone is ever visiting the central California coastal zone from December-March, there are several places with good viewing of monarch butterfly roosts where they gather up to the tens of thousands in numbers. If you are in the Santa Barbara-Los Angeles region this place is often quite good for monarch butterfly viewing:http://www.sblandtrust.org/coronado.html
 
Chester's butterfly exhibit is open and stocked year-round and houses tropical butterflies from around the world. Species at Chester (and seemingly 'typical' species of butterfly houses I've seen) are:

Peleides blue morpho (Morpho peleides)
Giant owl butterfly (Caligo idomeneus)
Paper kite (Idea leuconoe)
Glass-wing butterfly (Greta oto)
Indian leaf butterfly (Kallima paralekta)
Monarch (Danaus plexippus)
Great mormon (Papilio memnon)
Tiger longwing (Heliconius hecale)
Zebra longwing (Heliconius charithonia)
Emerald swallowtail (Papilio palinurus)
Tailed jay (Graphium agamemnon)
Clipper (Parthenos sp.)
Chinese oak silkmoth (Antheraea pernyi)
Atlas moth (Attacus atlas)

There are several other species out there. Personally I would like to see zoos keeping the birdwings (especially Queen Alexandra's birdwing, one of my all-time favourite butterfly species).
 
Saint Louis Zoo has a huge variety of butterflies in a walk-through exhibit. I had some photos of the signs, but my computer just crashed. I see if I can find them somewhere.
 
Europes butterfly gardens are always tropical ones, the most native species don't make a very nice display for the most people (they are to small). Dierenpark Emmen and Artis Amsterdam have the best butterfly exhibits in the Netherlands and probably in whole Europe.

@David Brown, there are 3 places in Europe where you can see the most species of butterfly (according to Lafranchis)
1. French Alps
2. Pyrenees (Spain/France)
3. southern Macedonia.

Other nice butterfly spots are in the Alps (Switzerland, Slovenia, Austria), Spain, (Andalusia, Extremadura), Greece mountain area's and the balkans
 
lintworm said:
Europes butterfly gardens are always tropical ones, the most native species don't make a very nice display for the most people (they are to small).
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That is not entirely true as Papiliorama in Switzerland has both a tropical hall filled with exotic butterfly species (which is as good as the ones in Artis and Emmen) as well as an outdoor aviary called "Swiss Butterfly Garden" of 500 m2 filled with native butterfly species (of course only in the summer).

lintworm said:
Dierenpark Emmen and Artis Amsterdam have the best butterfly exhibits in the Netherlands and probably in whole Europe.
Click to expand...

Now there I will agree with you. The Netherlands does seem to have a love for butterfly as the butterfly gardens in Emmen and Artis are brilliant and Rotterdam also has an extensive butterfly collection.
 
"Butterfly World" in Fort Lauderdale may still be the USA'a best butterfly experience.
The Day Butterfly Center at Callaway Gardens, GA has been around for decades and the fine tropical exhibit at Houston's Natural Science Museum (that can't be the right name!) is great.
The Cincinnati Zoo has had a small butterfly exhibit since the 80s. The Bronx Zoo's "Butterfly Zone" kicked the bar higher (around 1999) and many zoos followed suit.

Some go tropical, some go native. Some take an exotic look and others a "gardening for butterflies" flavor.

What is REALLY fascinating to me is watching kids who have stood before elephants looking bored, suddenly come to life in a buttersly exhibit
 
Zooplantman said:
What is REALLY fascinating to me is watching kids who have stood before elephants looking bored, suddenly come to life in a buttersly exhibit
Click to expand...

Thanks everyone for the information.

I think part of what people like about butterfly exhibits is their interactive nature. There aren't many other kinds of animals that you would want landing on you (see snowleopard's recent review of "Budgie Buddies" at the Point Defiance Zoo). I had a butterfly land on me at the California Acadmy of Sciences rain forest exhibit and several people wanted to take its picture.

@Zooplantman: is the Bronx Zoo's exhibit seasonal or year-round? I saw the exhibit but unfortunately did not have time to tour it.
 
Interestingly no one has mentioned that a very high percentage of butterfly s in the above mentioned exhibits would be wild caught. Is it acceptable when its a butterfly?

I was told by an expert once that a butterfly may appear to fly in a very random manner, however it is actually flying in a deliberate direction.
 
zooman said:
Interestingly no one has mentioned that a very high percentage of butterfly s in the above mentioned exhibits would be wild caught. Is it acceptable when its a butterfly?

I was told by an expert once that a butterfly may appear to fly in a very random manner, however it is actually flying in a deliberate direction.
Click to expand...

My impression for U.S. butterfly exhibits at least is that they are all raised on butterfly farms.

On a related note I found this handy guide to the butterfly exhibits of North America:Butterfly Exhibits and Gardens — Butterfly Conservation Initiative
The guide conveniently also tells which exhibits are year round and which are seasonal.
 
In Mexico butterflies are frequent fliers. Chapultepec zoo in Mexico City has a nice butterfly house. Most of the butterflies are bought from Costa Rica as Pupae, but various species are now raised at the zoo. The best butterfly houses in the country are the huge ones at Africam Safari, Puebla and at Xcaret, near cancun. Both raise most of their insects, though Africam also imports. Also both of these butterfly houses are built like mayan structures. The ultimate butterfly experience in Mexico is visiting the monarch butterfly wintering grounds in Angangueo, Michoacan, where the number of animals is simply astonishing. There are some videos on youtube. Before it was simply a matter of taking a bus or tour from Morelia City. Sadly this area is unsafe at the moment, which is unfortunate because the local people really need the revenue from eco - tourism. Hopefully the bad situation here will change someday.
 
In both North America and Europe almost all butterflies are Neotropical and Oriental. In most cases, a comparably very small number of native butterflies are kept (though keep in mind that a tiny corner of USA is Neotropic so many Neotropic species do enter USA marginally). In many cases they are in rainforest halls that often also have a few small frugivorous or nectarivorous birds like hummingbirds, honeycreepers and white-eyes. Many also have a water section with small crocodilians (e.g. spectacled caiman), turtles or fish.

Typical genera that are kept (some with several species from the genus kept, some with only one species kept) at many butterfly halls in both North America and Europe are
Papilio (both Neotropic and Asian species), Atrophaneura (Asia), Graphium (Asia), Idea (Asia), Danaus (Neotropic and Asia), Cethosia (Asia), Hypolimnas (Asia), Hebomoia (Asia), Euploea (Asia), Anartia (Asia), Kallima (Asia), Parthenos (Asia), Parides (Neotropic), Greta (Neotropic), Philaethria (Neotropic), Dryadula (Neotropic), Eueides (Neotropic), Dryas (Neotropic), Heliconius (Neotropic), Morpho (Neotropic), Caligo (Neotropic), Hamadryas (Neotropic) and Siproeta (Neotropic).

Add to that genera kept at relatively few places like Ornithoptera (Asia, though the only species kept with regularity is the Australian O. euphorion), Troides (Asia), Trogonoptera (Asia), Lamproptera (Asia), Myscelia (Neotropic), Biblis (Neotropic), Catonephele (Neotropic), Prepona (Neotropic), Archaeoprepona (Neotropic), etc.

Genera that I think are the superstars or have that potential are in bold. Some because of their size, some because of their colors, some because of a combination. Danaus isn't large or spectacular compared to the other but is included because of the famous monarch - a species familiar to many zoo visitors, even people with 'normal' level of animal knowledge. I have not included moths because the question was specifically about butterflies, but I think all the big moths (Saturniidae) regularly kept belong in the superstar category. Being an animal crazy person my personal list of superstars would be a bit different.

As far as I know these tropical butterflies are consistently raised at the zoos or from butterfly farms, mostly in their native countries. These generally follow natural cycles, meaning that the availability of many butterfly species is seasonal. That the supply is based on butterfly farms is probably the main reason African species have been largely absent from butterfly halls. Butterfly farming in Africa has only started gaining ground quite recently but there are places popping up in Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa at least. That means that butterflies like Papilio of Africa (like P. dardanus and P. nireus), Salamis and Charaxes have started appearing in butterfly halls in Europe/North America.

Like another person said I would love to see more Ornithoptera in butterfly halls and there are actually many of them raised at butterfly farms. The problem is that they can be sold to such high prices to butterfly collectors that few, if any, zoo would be willing to fork out that kind of money for a short-lived butterfly. Even if Queen Alexandra's birdwing was moved from CITES I (where it is now) to CITES II (where other birdwings are, which allows trade in captive raised), the price it would command because of butterfly collectors means that it probably would take decades from first captive raising until the price had fallen to a level acceptable for most butterfly halls. Personally I'd rather see the almost as big goliath birdwing but it is also a species with a very high price tag. If a butterfly hall started getting either of those two species now they would probably need a person watching it all the time in the hall (to avoid a visitor catching it to sell to butterfly collectors)!

The best places I have been for butterfly watching was Cristalino in the Amazon, Brazil. I don't think better than other places in the Amazon but the book Butterflies of Southern Amazonia was largely based on Cristalino. Unlike most places in South America that means you actually have a field guide with identications of the butterflies you can see.
 
zooman said:
Interestingly no one has mentioned that a very high percentage of butterfly s in the above mentioned exhibits would be wild caught. Is it acceptable when its a butterfly?
Click to expand...

As DavidBrown suggests, the overwhelming majority of butterflies on exhibit in western zoos are raised on butterfly farms in their home countries and shipped out (usually as pupae).

The butterfly farms are tremendous forces for good - they provide a sustainable local business and employment in often very poor areas, encourage the protection of large areas of forest and in many cases split the stock they breed 3 ways - some go to overseas collections, some are kept for breeding the next generation and some are released to boost wild populations. I know that Chester's butterfly sources operate in this way (Chester Zoo Butterfly House | Butterfly Journey | Chester Zoo UK). The original breeders that got the Peruvian Black Stick Insect (Peruphasma schultei) established in zoos/private holders operated the same way.

It really is a win-win.
 
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