Some of the insects I like are butterflies and their caterpillars. In March of 2004 a bunch of us went to the Butterfly Conservatory in Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada. We were given a tour of the restricted areas where we saw butterflies in the making and a greenhouse of the plants they use for the butterflies and conservatory. Here’s a horned caterpillar – when he was perturbed his horns came out, when he was happy, he retracted them. The horns were red. Cool.
(I like him on that leaf, but I wouldn’t want him crawling on me).
Here’s a display case of chrysalis’ and brand new butterflies that can be seen from the conservatory, but we saw it from the other side.
Sorry, getting a good photo was tough with all of the light from the conservatory. And sorry about the hiney in the photo. Here’s a couple of beauties they had lying around:
Inside the conservatory, I saw trays of butterlies eating with their wings closed, showing their “eye” to keep predators away:
It was really tough to capture a great photo of them with their wings open, but here they are in flight. They’re beautiful!
Here’s another butterfly hanging out in its full glory:
And another beauty:
It was fun spotting each butterfly, then actually getting a decent photo:
This one’s tough to see because of the light:
And another one:
It’s hard to see this one:
They also have turtles at the conservatory:
I need to go back in the summertime to see the trees and gardens:
Worth the trip if you’re ever in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. My own city now has a butterfly conservatory which I also need to check out once the crowds die down.
Nature Woman 