Butterfly House at the Bronx Zoo.
JUST IMAGINE yourself sitting on a bench surrounded by garden beds of white, red, pink and orange impatiens, spikes of closely placed purple-top verbena bonariensis, clusters of red odontonema tubiforme (firespike), rows of round top bright yellow Lantana sp. sprinkled with blue stachytarpheta urticifolia (bastard vervain). There are thousands of bright orange, yellow, sulphur, gold and blue butterflies hovering around either sipping nectar from the flowers or flying lazily close by.
More than likely you are sitting in a butterfly house. Simply put a butterfly house is a large enclosed garden which houses flowers and butterflies. It is large enough to accommodate the number of butterflies required, oriented to maximise solar radiation, with double doors at the entrance and exit to prevent butterflies escaping, contain tropical plants, appropriate signage and landscaped with features such as logs, boulders, a waterfall, a bridge and a pathway.
HOUSES WORLDWIDE
There are over two hundred and fifty butterfly houses in the world. The first butterfly house is believed to have been established in Europe on the island of Guernsey in the English Channel in 1977. Some sources say, however, that the first documented butterfly house was called Worldwide Butterflies and was opened in Dorset, England in 1978. Since then other butterfly exhibits have been established with over 40 being present in Great Britain. In North America, the first butterfly house called Butterfly World was opened in March 1988 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Today, more than thirty butterfly exhibits exists in North America. These butterfly exhibits either operate all year round, for example, Butterfly World at Tradewinds Park, Coconut Creek, Florida or some months of the year, for example, the butterfly exhibit at the Bronx Zoo which operates only during the summer months.
A butterfly house can be very large like the London Butterfly house in Syon Park, which is one of the largest in Europe, is 10,000 square feet in size or can be as small as a 120 square feet. These facilities are expensive to construct and maintain but do attract millions of visitors annually. The initial cost of establishing Butterfly World
and Ontario's Niagara Parks Butterfly Conservatory amounted to US$1.2 million and US$15 million respectively. The start-up capital for constructing a smaller, less elaborate facility can be as low as US$250,000.00.
A facility can offer a wide range of experiences to school groups, families, senior citizens, tourist and corporate executives. Corporate executives do take advantage of the relaxing.
- Audette J A Bailey PhD
