Butterfly World

Written by Julie Greiner

Butterfly World is the first park of its kind in the Western Hemisphere and the largest butterfly park in the World. Many years of careful planning and research have created the right conditions for thousands of butterflies to fly, court, feed and bask in the sunlight. You walk among them and enter their world. This world of butterflies is the result of Ronald Boender's hobby. Butterfly World opened in 1988 and consists of three acres of aviaries, botanical gardens, the butterfly farm and research facilities.

World's Largest Butterfly Park

Butterfly Gardening is fast becoming a nationwide, if not worldwide trend. It is a fun, educational activity that can have wonderful benefits both for the gardener and the environment. Because butterfly and plant species differ greatly by region, Butterfly World has established a North American "Bring Back the Butterflies Campaign", providing free printed plant guides for each geographic region within the continent.

Butterfly Gardening

Lories and Lorikeets are the breathtakingly beautiful clowns of the parrot world. They are referred to as the "brush-tongued" parrots, for their long brush-like tongues which allows them to easily feed on pollen and nectar, a physical feature that sets Butterfly World Exterior Grounds

them apart from other species. The smallest birds in the world, Hummingbirds may also be the most fascinating. With wings beating 60 times a second, they possess the unique ability to hover, as well as fly in any direction, reaching an average speed of 45 miles per hour in the air. Other show stoppers within the Jewels of the Sky Aviary include Gouldian Finches, brilliantly colored Honeycreepers and Euphonias.

The Jewels of the Sky Aviary

Butterfly World's Grace Gardens is a tropical botanical garden. It showcases some of the most beautiful flowering tropical specimens in the world. They include vines, shrubs and trees; as well as water gardens. Butterfly World is also the headquarters for the Passiflora Society International, an organization founded by Ron Boender and dedicated to the preservation of Passifloras throughout the world.

Grace Gardens

Throughout Butterfly World's history, research into every aspect of the Butterfly World Amathea Butterflies

butterfly and its habitat has been ongoing, yielding a myriad of discoveries and facilitating new methods of butterfly farming and protection. Some of the specific areas of study include the identification of chemicals butterflies emit and consume that are necessary for reproduction, the shade, temperature and humidity requirements of different species and the study of species' diverse hibernation stages. The Museum Insectarium at Butterfly World displays a few hundred of the nearly countless insects of the world. The displays provide a close up view of creatures you would probably never have the opportunity to see in nature.

Museum and Boender Endangered Species Laboratory

There are guided field trips for all ages and group rates are available. One of the main goals of Butterfly World is to encourage visitors to take an active interest Butterfly World Lorikeets - Lories

in their environment and the natural world. There are a series of workshops and seminars and butterfly gardening classes for beginners and advanced butterfly enthusiasts. The Butterfly World Museum Store is filled with hard-to-find butterfly and nature related books and gifts. And - the Butterfly Gardening Plant Shop carries a wide variety of butterfly attracting plants and vines guaranteed to turn your garden into a paradise for butterflies. For further information call: (954) 977-4434.