Imagine an enormous conservatory filled with hundreds of gorgeous
butterflies gently gliding through the air, moving silently from flower
to flower, catching your eye with shimmering glints of bright yellow,
blue and orange.
This is the magical world of the Cockrell Butterfly Center at the
Houston Museum of Natural Science in Houston, Texas, where there are no
barriers or glass partitions between the observer and the observed.
Expect to be enchanted by these winged wonders as they flitter and float
— and even hitch a ride on you, especially if you’re wearing a
brightly-colored shirt — inside the 70-foot-tall cone-shaped glass
atrium, complete with tropical plants and cascading waterfall.
“It’s like having a little piece of the Central American rain
forest right here in Houston,” said Nancy Greig, the center’s director.
The center is a fitting complement to the museum’s Brown Hall
of Entomology and the Insect Zoo, both of which are covered in the price
of admission to the butterfly center.
“It’s an immersion experience,” Nancy says. “People can
discover the wonder of butterflies in a semi-natural habitat and then
learn more about them in the entomology hall.”
For more information, call (713) 639-4629, or go to hmns.org.
