Enter a magical environment all aflutter with exotic tropical butterflies in “Flutter Zone,” a special walk-through encounter opening for the summer on Sat., May 23 at The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk.
“Flutter Zone” will be open through Sept. 7 (Labor Day) on the Aquarium’s riverfront courtyard, and will be matched wing-for-delicate-wing by the new IMAX® movie “Flight of the Butterflies,” opening May 22 on The Maritime Aquarium’s six-story screen.
“Flutter Zone” features dozens of varieties of exotic tropical butterflies from Asia, Africa and South America, all free-flying among Aquarium visitors.
“It’s like the air is dancing with colors,” said Judith Bacal, the Aquarium’s director of exhibits.
“In ‘Flutter Zone,’ you walk among all these beautiful butterflies and some of them may even choose to land on your head or arm,” she said. “It’s one thing to see animals. But, as also with our ‘Jiggle A Jelly’ exhibit, there’s an emotion involved, a commitment stirred, by physical connections – even with creatures as delicate as butterflies and jellyfish.”
Visitors to “Flutter Zone” also can watch the life cycle of butterflies unfold, in a special section featuring the chrysalises whose metamorphoses will keep the exhibit stocked with flittering butterflies throughout the summer.
Displays also emphasize the horticultural and agricultural importance of butterflies and other pollinators.
Plus, adjacent to “Flutter Zone” along the Norwalk River, The Maritime Aquarium is growing a “pollinators’ garden” filled with flowering plants that native butterflies specifically seek for food and egg-laying. Among these plants is milkweed. Monarch butterflies lay their eggs exclusively on milkweed, and their caterpillars feed exclusively on the plant. Recently, however, monarch populations have declined as property owners cut milkweed or spray it with pesticides.
Bacal said she wants the “pollinators’ garden” to inspire Aquarium visitors to return home and plant milkweed and other flowers helpful to native butterflies.
Entry into “Flutter Zone” is free with Aquarium admission. For visitors with an aversion to possible contact with live animals, viewing of the butterflies is possible from outside the exhibit.
“Flutter Zone” is a perfect complement to The Maritime Aquarium’s new IMAX movie “Flight of the Butterflies,” opening May 22. This incredible film, showing in Connecticut’s first and largest IMAX movie theater, follows the amazing year-long migration cycle of monarch butterflies from the U.S. and Canada down into Mexico. “Flight of the Butterflies” includes the true story of Dr. Fred Urquhart, the determined scientist who spent 40 years trying to discover exactly where the monarchs disappear to when they fly south each winter. Initial show times are 11 a.m. and 1 & 4 p.m. daily. Times will change July 1.
Get more details about The Maritime Aquarium’s exhibits, IMAX movies, programs and study cruises onto Long Island Sound this summer at www.maritimeaquarium.org. Or call (203) 852-0700.