New Butterfly Experience and Special Spring Programming

This spring, venture to the Academy’s rainforest dome to explore the season in bloom!

Over the year, exciting updates to the Academy’s four-story rainforest will be revealed, beginning with a brand new butterfly emergence experience opening March 3.

• From inside the rainforest canopy, watch the life cycle of tropical butterflies unfold before your eyes through a new viewing chamber, including several colorful butterfly species new to the Academy’s rainforest exhibit.
• Learn about the Academy’s work to sustain the world’s tropical rainforests and the species that call them home.
• Teeming with over 1,600 live plants and animals from rainforest ecosystems around the world, the Academy’s rainforest dome features charismatic reptiles, amphibians, birds, fish, and insects.

Plus, visit the Academy from March 17–April 23 and explore the fascinating world of pollinators with a dynamic schedule of special spring programming.

• Learn all about birds and bees and the habitats and plants they help cultivate.
• See jewel-toned butterfly specimens from the Academy’s entomology collection and examine up close the structural color that makes these fluttering insects so biologically diverse.
• Around the museum, special programming by visiting community partners will allow visitors to explore the sights and sounds of spring—including pop-up demonstrations by Academy Youth, pollinator talks on the living roof, butterfly-themed puppet shows, and much more.