The kids are completely intrigued by the butterflies. It's a great way to see how the butterflies need to dry and pump fluids through their wings as well as how long it takes before they can fly. Visitors can learn more about butterflies after they leave the haven by paying attention to the Nature Museum's reading materials. For instance, the monarch butterfly will migrate each fall from as far north as Canada all the way down to Mexico, some 2,500 miles away. The butterflies travel an estimated twenty to fifty miles a day for up to 125 days.
Visitors can also look at butterflies with the aid of a magnifying glass.
While the monarch butterfly is not an endangered species, the migration is a threatened phenomenon because of habitat loss. Situated on an ancient sand dune that was once the shore of Lake Michigan, the museum is located at 2430 N. Cannon Drive, just across Fullerton Parkway from the Lincoln Park Zoo. The very design of the museum evokes the natural world. Even the angular, asymmetrical shape of the building echoes the continually shifting appearance of nature itself. Before, we were much more of an academic and scholarly place.