We pushed through the dangling plastic strips of the makeshift door to enter the solarium's tropical climate, now maintained at 25C (77°F) and 65% humidity. Several of these doorways kept the climate and butterflies inside, and a fan near the last one prevented escapees.

For a second winter, the Canadian Museum of Nature has brought back this very popular exhibit of live butterflies in a tropical setting. It is so popular, they advise you to book your visiting time on-line.

Wandering slowly along the paths surrounded by vegetation, we gawked at the kaleidoscope of butterfly colors all around.

Throughout the atrium, small bowls and feeders held tropical fruit and clusters of butterflies fluttered around them.

Before we entered, we had been given the rules. Walk slowly; no touching the butterflies; watch where you walk; they may land on you and that's okay; you may blow on them to remove them if they bother you; the assistants will remove stubborn ones for you.

That's how I came to be walking around with a butterfly on my rump for 10 minutes! I wasn't the only one.

When taking their photos, some butterflies cooperated more than others. They were practically posing for the camera. The one on the feeder above and below is a Tiger longwing.

There were 23 species listed on the butterfly chart but what type is this? If I could find it, I labeled it for you here.

The Thoas swallowtails, below, were real camera hogs. Here is another one.

The blue morphos were fast. They either fluttered around quickly flashing their iridescent blue wings or landed to feed and immediately folded them. Sometimes you could just catch a glimpse of the blue.

Finally, one of them stopped on a wall to rest.

Many of the butterflies tried to find some sun near the windows. This next one is a beautiful Malachite.

A Whitened bluewing.

Another Malachite, below.

Butterflies hid amongst the foliage and often had camouflage coloring.

There certainly was variety.

This next one was my favorite. I have identified it as another Malachite.

One of the last ones I photographed was the Monarch.

And then we left the room, stopping at the full length mirror to make sure no butterflies were hitchiking on us. We went out through the last doorway but there was still more to see.

This special exhibit runs at the Canadian Museum of Nature until April 2019.

Now wait a second, how can they do that when
the average butterfly has a lifespan of 2 weeks?

Well, every few weeks, a shipment of butterfly pupae arrives from Costa Rica. Two farms there supply all the butterflies you see, however, there is some news.

The people at the museum noticed holes in the Mexican Milkweed - caterpillars!

The Monarch butterflies had laid eggs that had hatched. The tiny young caterpillars were moved to their own display case where they are protected and where you can watch them feeding on milkweed and see the metamorphosis from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly.




Below are 2 Monarch butterfly chrysalises. 24 hours before the butterfly emerges, these will change from the greenish color and become transparent.

References

Butterflies in Flight, Canadian Museum of Nature special exhibit

Images

Photos from the iPad of @kansuze.

I hope you enjoyed my stroll through the butterflies.
@kansuze