Florida Museum of Natural History

[htmb]

I've been visiting the Florida Museum of Natural History since 1970, when my college dorm was located across the street from the museum's last location. It's filled will all kinds of wondrous things.

Not having seen many butterflies all summer, my seven year old granddaughter and I visited the butterfly enclosure yesterday so we could surround ourselves with them.



















Lizards like the lush enclosure, too.







There are several water features running through the area and small fish can be seen.

[htmb]

Bananas offer a good photographic advantage.










The latest in protective gear...

[htmb]

V quickly learned her cheap tablet would not take satisfactory photos of the quick moving butterflies, so she changed to video and got some nice footage.
















This gentleman kept jumping into my photos. I suppose I was in his, too.

[htmb]

Going back inside the main museum building, we are reminded the facility is an institution of learning, study and research. Inside one of the laboratories we can see a few butterflies as they emerge from their cocoons.

[htmb]

The Florida Museum of Natural History has several interesting displays, and is a decent size for a city of our magnitude. In the summertime students from local high schools are recruited as volunteer guides and yesterday we had interesting conversations with several of these young people.

I must say, the students are very informative and well-trained. They also do a good job of speaking on different levels. My granddaughter was able to learn what owls eat and how they regurgitate undigested animal parts. She was also able to take apart a pellet to see the small bones and fur of a rodent that had been consumed by an owl.

Other students had plastic models of different types of snakes and jars containing specimens of the real thing. Plus, monarch caterpillars, and microscopes for viewing slides with all different types of teeny creatures.

The youngest student docent there led us on a tour through the fossil area and taught us about animals that had lived in our part of north Florida many years ago.







All the fossilized bones in these pictures were found within 100 miles of the city of Gainesville.

[bixaorellana]

Hmmm. Horses, New World. Hmmm hmm.

What a lovely place and you got so many gorgeous pictures. Do you see many of those varieties of butterflies when you're out in Payne's Prairie and other natural areas? V looks completely enthralled. What a nice idea to have young people acting as guides. It would seem to make the museum even more kid-friendly.

Boy, the butterflies are all over those bananas, aren't they?! I am going to try that in my patio.

[htmb]

Aug 12, 2016 18:36:52 GMT bixaorellana said:

Hmmm. Horses, New World. Hmmm hmm.

Did you read the "New World to Old" part?

[mossie]

Some beautiful butterflies, am particularly struck with the mottled blue one. In the face off with the closed peacock, do you know what sort it is?

[htmb]

Bixa, I think most of the butterflies we saw yesterday are non-native to this area.

Mossie, my granddaughter says that particular butterfly is a Blue Morpho.
www.flmnh.ufl.edu/exhibits/always-on-display/butterfly-rainforest/id-guide/blue-butterflies/

[bixaorellana]

Aug 12, 2016 19:33:10 GMT htmb said:

Did you read the "New World to Old" part?

Why yes, yes I did. Sorry -- can't write more right now as I'm dealing with something that's been rubbed in.

[htmb]

It's called beating a dead horse, I believe.

[Deleted]

Great butterfly pictures, but I agree that they do not seem to be native to the area. I remember completely different ones from my childhood. (And my brother and I even had a butterfly collection until the ants ate it.)