Carleton’s annual butterfly show is fluttering away on the imaginations of the children who came to hold oranges and have the creatures land on their noses.
“There’s a lot of prep work to get the greenhouses ready,” greenhouse manager Ed Bruggink said.
“The nectar plants have to be in great supply, and we have to set up the nursery to receive the pupa supply in England, which they get from all over the world,” he said.
The pupae are kept in the nursery until they emerge as butterflies, Bruggink said.
They are then displayed in the greenhouses for visitors to see and interact with.
There are about 62 species of butterflies this year, he said. They are mainly neo-tropical species from Africa, Asia, and Costa Rica.
“We try to maintain the temperature at 27 C and have lots of humidity. I water the greenhouse twice a day,” he said.
Bruggink said the exhibit is unique because it is free.
“[The butterflies] average about four dollars a piece, and I get about 1,300 of them, so it’s a very costly show,” he said.
The show does accept donations.
Bruggink said the show is family-oriented. He said Thanksgiving weekend is when a lot of families are in town.
“You’ll see people coming in, hugging each other in the lobby, and meeting friends and family at the show,” he said. “They have a good time, and go home and have dinner. It’s a heart-warming experience.”
Let’s Talk Science, a national science outreach program, has volunteers taking in groups of students from different schools and giving them educational tours of the butterflies in the greenhouse.
Fraser MacQuarrie, one of the co-ordinators of Carleton’s branch, said the program started 20 years ago at the University of Western Ontario.
“The majority of kids in schools think science is either too hard to pursue, or it’s not interesting,” he said. “We’re here to change that.”
The program reaches out to school children to help develop their interest in science by doing activities with them in the classroom, as well as showing them exhibits such as Carleton’s butterfly show, according to MacQuarrie.
Carleton’s butterfly exhibit is scheduled from Oct. 5 to Oct. 14 in the Nesbitt Biology Building.
