friday field trip

Do you like butterflies?  I’m not a big fan.  I could never understand the attraction.  I never ‘got’ the ‘releasing them at the wedding thing’ or why someone would tattoo a drawing of one on their butt!   Of course,  if it were a shell or a starfish, I might understand ;)

Raising butterflies as a kid was solely an accident.  I would capture a caterpillar in a jar…taking it out periodically to let it crawl up my arm.  I would soon loose interest.  Coming across the jar in the garage much later, I would find the caterpillar had transformed.  Sometimes I would end up with a butterfly – most times, with a scary looking moth.

Even though the idea of visiting the Butterflies! exhibit at The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia was met by me with lukewarm enthusiasm, I actually enjoyed it.  Probably because the coolest butterfly in the habitat landed on me!  The tropical garden that houses the Butterflies! exhibit is filled with colorful plants and a multitude of live butterflies from Central and South America, East Africa, and Southeast Asia.  There are an estimated 60 to 150 butterflies and 20 to 40 different species on any given day.  Adult butterflies usually live one to two weeks (this I didn’t know) and the museum receives new butterflies from around the world each week.  I honestly didn’t think any of my photos would come out since a misting of water was constant in the environment, creating a hazy look.

At first, I was really more interested in the plants than the butterflies.  Instructions were given upon entering the (very hot and humid) habitat to ensure all the specimens were treated gently.  All that enter are instructed to ask for assistance if a butterfly should land on your person, because a museum worker is required to remove it.  I had to seek someone out to remove the one that planted itself on my hand.

It wasn’t until that one butterfly landed on me that I became interested in really looking at them…aren’t they attracted to sweet things? ;)

 If you are ever in Philadelphia, check out The Academy of Natural Sciences.  It is located at 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway  www.ansp.org

Thanks for visiting, Jackie