Butterfly Exhibit at Florida Museum of Natural History By Johnny Li

Note: All images were taken at the Butterfly Exhibit at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

Nature on Display

Varies butterfly on display

One of the most appealing exhibits at the Florida Museum of Natural History is the butterfly exhibit. In terms of design, the exhibit is set up to awe the visitors the moment they step foot into the room. When I entered the room I was stunned by the vast display of butterflies mounted on the wall where rows and rows of varies types of butterflies from different regions mounted across the entire wall. This stunning show of collective butterfly beauty got me excited to see the rest of the exhibit. The main point that I learned about the natural world from the exhibit is the butterflies truly comes in varies forms, some in colorful fashion while others unique forms. This said, I could have learned this point from a textbook or the internet simply stating the butterflies are colorful with some images but only under the firsthand experience of actually seeing the butterflies with my own eyes did the reality of stark differences in beauty comes to full view. I found that the most enjoyable part of the exhibit was that it presented a detailed overview of the butterflies rather than one aspect. The exhibit displayed the butterflies’ life cycle, beauty, cells biology, and the consequences of human interactions in an active learning environment which made me want to see, learn and have more fun.

Butterfly chrysalis on display

Nature and Ethics

Board on the Conservation of Butterflies

The Natural History Museum provide me with the opportunity to experience nature in ways that Leopold recommended, to “love, respect, and admire”. As I went through the museum I felt admiration to the butterfly for its beauty and sadden by its struggle. The exhibit contains several boards with messages of the butterflies’ endangerment and conservation, telling the declining numbers and efforts to save them where I thought it was tragic for such an important creature to disappear. I was able to peacefully walk through the exhibits and enjoy what it had to offer while others might have a different experience as this one visitor seems to be terrified by the butterflies and rushed through the exhibit, taking photos on the way, while the children at the time seem to have a joyful experience. The Natural History Museum allow visitors to the museum to connect with nature through the Butterfly Garden. The Butterfly Garden allows visitors to physically get out of their comfort zone and connect with the butterflies in their natural environment as one can see them eat, fly, and explore the garden. My experience in the museum did instill an ethical responsibility to nature as Leopold imagines where I feel obligated as a person to conserved the well-being of the environment and the creatures in it, not based on the land’s momentary land but as a sign of respect to the world that has raised me.

Me in the Butterfly Garden

Nature and the Human Spirit

Me in front of the Florida Museum of Natural History

The Natural History museum help us step out of our ordinary lives by immersing the visitors with an abundance of knowledge of butterflies through firsthand experience of seeing and learning in the environment of the butterfly rather than other usually comfort. People will love only what they understand and people will understand only what they are taught, the Natural History museum teaches the visitors of the vast difference of each individual butterfly which in turn the teaches the visitors of the vast difference of oneself and how those difference from the ideal view is what makes them special. This begins the understanding and loving of creatures that seems to be entirely different and better appreciate the mystery and majesty of the natural world by placing our perspective in the eyes of the butterflies.

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