Butterfly Museum

You know the shots of the people dancing happily while surrounded by chirping birds, butterflies, and happy forest animals? You know, like meetings of Obama's cabinet. Or is it the Nancy and Harry show? (OK, those were cheap shots, however I feel much better.)

Key West has a butterfly museum. I expected lots of dead butterflies mounted on panels - for me pretty boring stuff. Was I surprised to find live butterflies! The museum is built like an aviary. A walkway takes you through lots of growth that is of course the natural habitat for the butterflies. And they are alive and flying all over the place. There is also a small population of birds, fish, and turtles. Quite an amazing place. When you consider that the life span of a grown butterfly is only about 2 to 3 weeks it is even more amazing. People apparently harvest butterflies in the cacoon stage and then they emerge at the museum. Pretty cool.