The Butterfly Rainforest is located inside the Florida Museum of Natural History. We first heard about the Butterfly Rainforest at the FPEA convention last year. I was told by several people that this was the place to go to see butterflies and that it “blows Butterfly World out of the water”. While I still think Butterfly World is better, we did have a good time and we enjoyed many of the exhibits at the museum. Interestingly enough, there is only an admission fee for the Butterfly Rainforest, the rest of the museum is free!
Within the Butterfly Rainforest you can see many types of butterflies. We went in the morning but since it was cool they weren’t very active. We did see quite a few of the Owl butterflies and have decided those are one of our favorites to find. Sadly, we didn’t see any Zebra Longwing Butterflies which is Florida’s state Butterfly.
One of our favorite exhibits, was Northwest Florida: Waterways and Wildlife, it follows water flow through the unique environments of northwest Florida. As you enter the exhibit you notice that everything is large so you feel small. 
The kids really liked that and it made me more aware of their physical perspective as they move about in an adult sized world. Also in this exhibit is a life-sized limestone cave and a smaller one for young explorers to explore. A lot of attention to detail was paid in the design of the cave. You can see bats and unique formations. G-man and Bear can still identify curtains, soda straws, and columns from our visit to Natural Bridge Caverns in Texas! It was exciting to see (and hear).
Florida Fossils
Featuring some of the museum’s internationally acclaimed fossil collection including a 15-foot tall ground sloth and a now extinct dolfin. More than 90% of the featured fossils are real and many were found within 100 miles of Gainesville!
This exhibit features the Calusa, Seminole and Miccosukee Indians. We didn’t spend a lot of time in this exhibit, I allowed the children to lead and since we haven’t discussed or studied the Seminole Indians before they didn’t seem too focused on the displays. I find it always helps on a field trip to provide a little background information before the field trip. We will address the importance of the Seminole people in our studies next year.Field Trip Tips:
For best viewing of the butterflies, go in the afternoon when they are more active. Take advantage of the docents. They are happy to share information about the displays with you, but you have to ask. They aren’t pushy but are well informed and enthusiastic. This is a small museum so plan on spending about 1.5- 2 hours here.
