Moths and Butterflies

Draw a butterfly. Build a butterfly. Learn about butterfly evolution, migration, and conservation. 

Along with moths, their less flashy cousins, these beautiful insects are admired, collected, and worshipped by cultures all over the world. Exquisitely sensitive to their environment, butterflies are also favored by scientists who study the effects of climate change.

Video The Butterfly Life Cycle How do you make a butterfly? Video Nabokov's Butterflies - Shelf Life 360 Georeferencing a famous author's specimens. Hands-on Draw a Monarch You don't have to be a terrific artist to create a scientific illustration of a monarch butterfly—just willing to take your time... Blog Post How Do Moths and Butterflies Survive a New York City Winter? They may seem as delicate as gossamer, but moths and butterflies routinely survive the cold, harsh weather of New York winters. February 7, 2013 Blog Post A Rare Beauty The world’s largest butterfly is now also one of the most endangered, surviving only on a tiny plot of coastal rain forest in the... November 3, 2014 Story The Butterfly Kingdom Taiwan may be a small island, but it's home to more kinds of butterflies than any almost other place in the world — about 400 species... Article The Prevalence of Ophryocystis elektroscirrha Infections in the Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus): A Study of the Protozoan Parasite in a Wild P... This young naturalist wanted to know if parasitic infection rates in wild, garden-dwelling monarchs were higher than migrating monarchs. Article Night visitors: A Study of the Hourly Distribution of Moth Activity at a Light Station Long fascinated with phototropism in night-flying insects, this young naturalist hypothesized that moths would be active in greater... Article Butterfly Buffet: The Feeding Preferences of Painted Ladies Can you imagine a world without butterflies? Although butterflies are insects, most people think they are beautiful, peaceful creatures... Blog Post Moths at Large at the Museum By far the largest and oldest group in the order Lepidoptera, moths are usually overshadowed by their flashier cousins, the butterflies.... February 27, 2013 Blog Post Happy National Moth Week! It’s National Moth Week, an ideal time to observe and celebrate these remarkable, mainly nocturnal, butterfly cousins. Before you... July 23, 2013 Special Exhibition The Butterfly Conservatory Experience the wonder of 500 free-flying butterflies in a room full of lush, tropical plants. November 20, 2021 — May 29, 2022