By Atlas Novack
The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles will be opening a new outdoor exhibit to the public on September 16 until October 16 for its 2016 season. A new exhibit known as the Butterfly Pavilion features over 25 North American butterfly species gathered by top entomologists, and includes monarchs, queens, malachites, as well as longwings and swallowtails, among others, that will be able to fly freely among flowering plants in the enclosed habitat provided for them.
Visitors will be allowed to explore the habitat as well, ensuring an enriching experience for any insect lover out there.
The museum is the first dedicated museum in the L.A. area, having opened in 1913, and has amassed over 35 million objects in its 103 years of existence, some as ancient as 4.5 billion years old. The museum is part of a family with the La Brea Tar Pits Museum and the William S. Hart Park and Museum. All three have served millions of visitors and are leaders in research, exhibits, and education.
However, the Butterfly Pavilion focuses less on how old the subjects are, and more about the variety of butterfly species featured.
The exhibit is part of a trifecta within the Natural History Museum, in conjunction the Museum’s Nature Gardens, which is outdoors, and Nature Lab, which is indoors. The Nature Gardens completed construction in 2013, and allow visitors to participate in gardening workshops and nature walks, or just take in the beauty of it all. Meanwhile, the Nature Lab allows visitors to participate in experiments, learn scientific methods, or engage in hands-on activities with live animals. All three allow visitors to learn about insects and other species in the urban environment, and the Museum invites guests to participate in available Urban Nature Research Center studies that are being conducted across Los Angeles County in the coming months, of which many can be signed up for at the museum.
On the Butterfly Pavilion’s opening day, guests are invited to wear bright colors, so that it will attract butterflies to land on them. If a guest is afraid of butterflies, they are advised to wear darker colors such as brown or navy to discourage this.
The Natural History Museum itself is located at 900 Exposition Blvd. The Butterfly Pavilion exhibit will open September 16 at 9:30 a.m., and will close at 5 p.m. when the museum closes. For more information, visit nhm.org.
