What better way to get an insect’s-eye view of the world than to walk into a larger-than-life meadow? One of the galleries in the Museum’s special exhibition Our Senses: An Immersive Experience lets visitors see nature as a bee or butterfly, and reveals how the ability to detect UV light helps these animals find food—and each other.
How does this gallery let visitors experience the insect point of view? Here’s a behind the scenes look at how it was made.
A. Specs from Specimens
Model makers don’t have to go far for inspiration. The Museum’s bee collection includes nearly 500,000 specimens representing more than 7,000 identified species. That’s a large library to reference for details that photos and other images can’t provide.
B. Highlighting with Light
Some Heliconius look just like another butterfly—except for ultraviolet marks on their wings that only others of their species can see. Human visitors can spot them when a UV light, which cycles on and off on a timer, floods the scene and reveals the secret signal.
C. Action Poses
Jake Adams (pictured below) studied slow motion videos of butterflies in flight to capture how different species maneuver when landing on a flower. Heliconius butterflies tuck their legs next to their eyes and under their wings, while monarchs let theirs dangle.
It’s Electric
A honeybee’s body is covered in nearly 3 million tiny hairs, which help it carry up to 30 percent of its own weight in pollen. To make sure the model bees looked their fuzziest, preparator Jason Brougham used synthetic fibers—aided by static electricity—to stand the strands up straight.
Invisible Paint
Bees and butterflies can see ultraviolet light, an adaptation that lets them spot “nectar targets” on nearby flowers or identify potential mates. Humans can’t. So how did preparators make models of UV-hued blooms? By shining a UV light while working, as Andrea Raphael is doing in the photo above.
Massive Models
At its longest, the wingspan of Heliconius butterflies is only about 3 inches. But to reveal details we’d normally miss on these tiny creatures and delicate plants, the models are 750 percent the size of the real thing.
Our Senses: An Immersive Experience is free for Members.
A version of this story originally appeared in the Winter 2018 issue of Rotunda, the Member magazine.