Butterflies flap their wings at Carleton again as annual show returns
reposted from https://www.cbc.ca/
Last weekend to catch hundreds of colourful specimens
Butterfly exhibit returns to Carleton University for the first time in three years
4 days ago
Duration 1:14
Ed Bruggink, the department’s greenhouse manager, and Raven Miller, with Canadian charitable organization Let’s Talk Science, say the exhibit offers a way to get up close and personal with butterflies while learning about their conservation.
Perhaps you’re mesmerized by malachites, or crazy about clippers.
If so, good news: those are just a few of the dozens of butterfly species fluttering merrily on the Carleton University campus these days, as the annual butterfly show has made its in-person return.
COVID-19 forced the previous two editions to take place virtually, but organizers say hundreds of people have flocked through the doors of the biology department’s greenhouse since the show launched last weekend.
“It has a universal appeal,” said Ed Bruggink, the department’s greenhouse manager. "We’ve been doing this for 23 years, and the types of people who come in here are from all walks of life.
“It’s educational and fun. And they get to learn about science and how important science is in the world.”
Hosted by the biology department, the show features some 1,000 exotic butterflies from 41 different species from around the world.
While the show launched last weekend, Lepidopter a lovers still have two more days to check out the colourful insects.
Ed Bruggink, the greenhouse manager for Carleton University’s biology department, poses with one of the specimens on display at the university’s annual butterfly show. The show is being held in person this year for the first time since 2019. (Jean Delisle/CBC)
The reason the show runs a mere nine days is that many butterflies only exist in their winged adult form for a couple of weeks, said Raven Miller with Canadian charitable organization Let’s Talk Science.
“We time it so that you have the best possible chance of seeing as many butterflies as possible,” said Miller, whose group is helping host the annual exhibition.
“I’ve been going to the show since I was about two years old. So it’s really amazing to be co-ordinating it [and] it’s nice to be back in person.”
Doors open Saturday and Sunday at 9 a.m., with the last entry to the greenhouse at 3:40 p.m. Admission is by donation, and the show is handing out timed tickets so people aren’t stuck waiting in line.
One of the butterflies at Carleton University’s annual butterfly show. The show is back in person in 2022, with more than 5,000 specimens fluttering through the biology department’s greenhouse. (Jean Delisle/CBC)