A Visit to the Butterfly Rainforest in Gainesville

We’re very proud of what we do here at BioWorks. We raise native Florida species from egg to adult on their natural food sources, demonstrating the full life cycle of Central Florida’s butterflies and moths to MOSI visitors. This educational aspect is especially important to us, and we love knowing that we often send people home with a desire to recreate what they’ve seen here in their own backyards.

That being said, we also have great admiration for the other butterfly exhibits here in Florida. Many of them display amazing butterfly species from around the world – species Florida residents just can’t see in their own yards. Last week, we paid a visit to the Butterfly Rainforest in Gainesville to meet with the man who runs the show. We used the time to exchange ideas, learn new things, and just generally admire the gorgeous butterflies.

The Butterfly Rainforest is part of the Florida Museum of Natural History, located on the University of Florida campus. The exhibit is 6,400 square feet (many times larger than BioWorks!) and contains hundreds of butterflies from around the world. (You can learn more by visiting their website.) The album below is just a brief sampling of the butterflies and other wildlife we saw while we were there – click through to enjoy amazing butterflies from Costa Rica, the Philippines, and more!

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