Amazing Butterflies
For a unique and beautiful family experience in Britain, head to the new Amazing Butterflies exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London. From chomping caterpillars to beautiful butterflies, the museum comes alive with a tropical butterfly house and giant outdoor maze. The exhibition runs for 4 months throughout the summer from 5 April – 17 August.
Children and adults will love the giant interactive maze – you enter as a caterpillar, and make your way around the wild maze as grass and leaves tower above you. If you choose the right route around the maze, you’ll emerge as a beautiful butterfly, but beware of the dead ends where poisonous plants and predators are waiting to pounce!
As you work your way through the maze, you’ll discover fascinating facts about one of our planet’s most fascinating life cycles. Find out why some caterpillars disguise themselves as snakes, and why the monarch butterfly flies 3,000 miles across America every year.
The Natural History Museum holds one of the largest collections of butterflies in the world with over 3 million. At Amazing Butterflies you’ll discover what it’s like to study butterflies in the field by watching video diaries and reading notes from the museum’s scientists.
When you emerge from the maze as a beautiful butterfly, you’ll find yourself in the museum’s stunning butterfly house. Here you’ll experience the beauty and magic of walking among hundreds of free-flying tropical butterflies and even come face to face with a huge variety of these incredible creatures from America, Africa and Asia.
Amazing Butterflies is open daily from 10:00 – 17:50. Admission is £5, £3.50 for concessions, and free for Natural History Museum members, patrons and children aged 3 and under. For more information on Amazing Butterflies and other exhibitions, visit Natural History Museum (www.nhm.ac.uk/index.html).