I decided to tackle the notion of great invertebrate displays in North American zoos and I’ve listed 36 facilities below. Here are 4 outstanding ones: 1- Audubon Butterfly Garden & Insectarium - Opened in 2008, more than 50 live exhibits, at least 10 galleries of invertebrates. 2- Montreal Insectarium - Opened in 1990, both live and dead specimens. 400,000 annual visitors. 3- Cincinnati Zoo's World of the Insect*- Opened in 1978, approximately 100 species. 4- Saint Louis Zoo's Insectarium & Butterfly Conservatory* - Approximately 100 species including the butterfly walk-through area. Other facilities with insect displays: Smithsonian Museum of Natural History - O.Orkin Insect Zoo contains 65 invertebrate species plus a Butterfly Pavilion. Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo* – Butterfly & Insect Pavilion. 35 species + butterflies. Philadelphia Insectarium & Butterfly Pavilion - Opened in 1992 but underwent a major expansion in 2017. Houston Museum of Natural Science* - The Hall of Entomology has almost 40 live invertebrate species plus there is a walk-through Butterfly Center. Museum of Life & Science - This facility has the Bayer Insectarium and Magic Wings Butterfly House. Located in Durham, North Carolina. Houston Zoo* - 'Bug House' opened in 2014 and contains 25 exhibits. Woodland Park Zoo* - 'Bug World' building opened in the 1990s and contains approximately 15 exhibits plus the zoo has a Butterfly walk-through structure that opened in 2016. Insectropolis: The Bugseum of New Jersey - Located in Toms River, New Jersey. Seattle's Pacific Science Center* - 21 invertebrate species plus a walk-through Butterfly House. Butterfly House* (near St. Louis) - 20 invertebrate species plus a large walk-through Butterfly House. Albuquerque Biopark - 'BUGarium' opened in October 2015 and there is also a nearby Butterfly Pavilion. Texas Discovery Gardens* - 14 invertebrate species plus a large Butterfly House. Butterfly Wonderland* - This Arizona facility has around a dozen invertebrate species plus a Butterfly Conservatory. Butterfly Palace & Rainforest Adventure - Located in Branson, Missouri. G.T. Butterfly House & Bug Zoo - Opened in October 2014 in Williamsburg, Michigan. Newfoundland Insectarium - Opened in 1998 and receives 300,000 annual visitors. There is also a Butterfly House on site. Butterfly World - Located in Coconut Creek, Florida, this is a major facility that takes at least 2 hours to tour. Butterfly House & Insect World - Opened in 1991 and located on Mackinac Island in the state of Michigan. Dallas Zoo* - 'Bug U' building is small but is packed with invertebrate species endemic to Texas. Victoria Bug Zoo* - Two-room 'zoo' with 40 invertebrate species on Vancouver Island. San Francisco Zoo* - Insect House contains 30 invertebrate species. Greensboro Science Center - Arthropod Zoo contains 23 live exhibits. Located in Greensboro, North Carolina. San Diego Zoo* - Insect House contains 18 terrariums. Oakland Zoo* - 'House of Bugs' contains 15 invertebrate species. Fort Worth Zoo* - 15 invertebrate species in the world-class Reptile House (MOLA). Oregon Zoo - Insect House opened in 2017 with 15 invertebrate species. Part of the new Education Center. Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum* - approximately 20 invertebrate species spread throughout the park. Kansas State Insect Zoo - 20 invertebrate species. San Angelo Nature Center* - 16 invertebrate species. Sertoma Butterfly House & Marine Aquarium - Located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Sweetbriar Nature Center & Butterfly House - Opened in 1997 and located in Smithtown, New York. Toledo Zoo - currently the Museum of Science building (built in the 1930s) is undergoing a $27 million renovation and it will reopen in 2019 and contain an unknown number of invertebrate displays. There are various other 'Butterfly House' facilities across the continent and probably at least 10 of them I have not listed here as they don't contain much else besides the walk-through butterfly zone. · * I’ve visited 18 of the insect facilities.
Many zoos and natural history museums have seasonal butterfly houses. Franklin Park Zoo in Boston, the Bronx Zoo, LA County Natural History Museum, Santa Barbara Natural History Museum, Turtle Bay in Redding, California are ones that I have seen personally. The LA County Natural History Museum has a stand-out seasonal invertebrate display in the autumn months when they transform their butterfly house into a walk-through spider house with several species of orb-weaving spiders that people can experience with no barriers. In the entrance area are several species of tarantulas and other spiders in terrariums for close-up discovery. The London Zoo is the only other institution I know of with a similar set-up.
Milwaukee Public Museum - Bugs Alive! exhibit includes live and dead specimens of many insects, as well as centipedes, millipedes, vingaroons, and crayfish. They also have the Puelicher Butterfly Wing, which is a large and very nice butterfly house. Butterfly Gardens of Wisconsin - Contains a large butterfly dome of species native to Wisconsin. In addition to butterflies and moths, BGoW also keeps dragonflies in the dome. There is also a visitor center containing dead specimens and live pupas of many butterflies and moths, as well as a few herpitiles. They also have a large restored prairie in the the shape of a butterfly, and a goldfish pond.
