Butterflies

 

Arches at Pacific Science Center

 

Another interesting and fun thing to do at the Pacific Science Center is visit the permanent Tropical Butterfly House.  Separated from the rest of the Science Center by double doors is a large tropical room with gorgeous flowers, pools, running water, and hundreds of beautiful butterflies. 

Before entering the tropical room the attendant explains how fragile the butterflies are and how careful visitors must be not to step on them or brush them away if they land on one’s clothes or hair.  Instead visitors are asked to have an attendant inside the room help if necessary.  One woman wearing a flowered shirt had several butterflies land on her.  When I stood next to her a butterfly landed on my hair staying for just a few seconds before flying away.  Most of the butterflies would land just briefly on the flowers or leaves and then fly off.  It was difficult to get clear photos since they didn’t stay still very long. 

Two laminated sheets with pictures were available so it was possible to identify most of the butterflies and flowers by name should one wish to do so.  I will try to label the photos below but remember I am not a butterfly expert and am just using the laminated sheets as a guide for identification.  When leaving the room we were cautioned not to open the outside door until the inside door was completely shut so that the butterflies wouldn’t fly out into the main science center. 

This pretty pale yellow/white and black colored one is a Rice Paper or Paper Kite butterfly.  It is native to Southeast Asia.

 “Lacewing” from Southeast Asia and named for this lacy pattern on the underside of the wings.

Common Swallowtails (above & below) from Southeast Asia

 

I was fortunate to get this one with the wings open and the wings closed.  It comes from Central America; the common name is the Owl Butterfly.  The design on the backside of the wings does indeed look like a big owl’s eye.

There are a couple of butterflies that look like this one below.  They are called Longwings and can eat pollen so they are able to live longer than some other butterflies.  They taste terrible to birds that recognize them by their colors and avoid eating them.  Most Longwings come from the southern United States, Central or South America.  

 Longwing

A Large Tiger from Central America?  It could be  another one of the Longwings.

This I think is the Large Tiger

Zebra – a Longwing, these also taste noxious to birds that avoid them

Lacewing

?  The color is wrong for a Swallowtail but it came closest to that on the chart.  Here is another one below.

??  Lots of people were taking pictures of this one.   It does not in the least resemble anything on the identification cards.


For information about the Pacific Science Center, see:
http://www.pacificsciencecenter.org/