Delicate rainbows of color dance through the air as you stroll through “Flutter Zone,” a magical butterfly exhibit opening for the summer on Sat., May 28 at The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk.
“Flutter Zone” will offer close encounters with dozens of varieties of exotic tropical butterflies daily through Sept. 5 (Labor Day) on the Aquarium’s riverfront courtyard.
Some of the butterflies may even land on you!
Plus, double your butterfly fun by choosing “Flight of the Butterflies” as the IMAX® movie included with your Maritime Aquarium admission. “Flight of the Butterflies” is among the classic IMAX movies playing daily on the six-story screen from May 27 through Labor Day.
“Everyone loves butterflies, and ‘Flutter Zone’ gives our guests the opportunity to get close to species of beautiful brilliant tropical butterflies that they’ll never see in our local environment,” said Dave Sigworth, the Aquarium’s publicist. “Plus, because it’s getting rarer to even see some of our indigenous butterfly species in Connecticut, a ‘pollinators’ garden’ adjacent to ‘Flutter Zone’ informs Aquarium guests about flowering native plants that they can add to their gardens to help butterflies, bees, hummingbirds and other creatures.”
At a “Flutter Zone” activity station, guests can purchase a milkweed starter kit ($1) to plant when they return home. Monarch butterflies lay their eggs exclusively on milkweed, and their caterpillars feed exclusively on the plant. Recently, however, monarch populations across North America have declined as property owners cut milkweed or spray it with pesticides.
Guests at the activity station also can personalize a souvenir butterfly headband, and explore the differences between butterflies and moths.
In addition, “Flutter Zone” spotlights the amazing life cycle of butterflies in a special display of the live chrysalises whose metamorphoses will keep the exhibit stocked with flittering butterflies throughout the summer. Be sure to look to see who might be emerging!
Maritime Aquarium members get to experience “Flutter Zone” first during an exclusive advance opening at 9 a.m. on May 28.
“Flutter Zone” pairs perfectly with the classic IMAX movie “Flight of the Butterflies,” playing daily on the Aquarium’s six-story screen this summer. This film follows the astonishing annual migration cycle of monarch butterflies from the U.S. and Canada down into Mexico. The movie recounts 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.
“The scene showing Dr. Urquhart coming upon the monarchs’ Mexican sanctuary is incredible,” Sigworth said. “The air is full of millions of monarchs, all crisp against a clear blue sky. You think that it must be computer movie magic, but those are all real butterflies.”
Daily show times for the 44-minute movie are:
– 2 & 4 p.m. May 27-June 30.
– 1 & 3 p.m. July 1-15.
– 1 & 4 p.m. July 16-Sept. 5.
“Flutter Zone” and one classic IMAX movie are included with paid Aquarium admission: $22.95 for adults; $20.95 for youths (13-17) & seniors (65+); and $15.95 for children (3-12). The exhibit and one classic IMAX movie per day are free to Aquarium members.
Get more details about all of The Maritime Aquarium’s exhibits, IMAX movies, programs and study cruises onto Long Island Sound this summer at maritimeaquarium.org.