Drago Butterfly Park (Mariposario del Drago)

The Mariposario del Drago opened in 1997 in Icod de los Vinos, in the north of Tenerife, right beside the Drago Milenario, the dragon tree that made the town famous. From the outset it was conceived as a visitor attraction and also as an exhibition and breeding centre for exotic Lepidoptera, which is how it is described in the register of institutions kept by GBIF Spain, the Spanish node of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, where it was entered in August 2007 together with an entomological collection devoted to butterflies.

The supply of butterflies relies on captive breeding. According to a travel guide published by the Barceló group, most of the stock comes from the Centro Entomológico del Norte, a breeding estate of some 13,000 square metres said to produce 70 to 75 per cent of the insects, the remainder coming from licensed breeders abroad; the butterflies travel to the park as chrysalises. A 2024 press report, for its part, describes pupae arriving from captive-breeding operations in the Philippines, Malaysia, Costa Rica, Belize and Kenya. The two accounts may reflect different periods, and no source dates any change.

The butterfly house is now listed by the Canary Islands tourist board among Tenerife's leisure attractions.

The butterfly house is a glazed tropical garden: the Canary Islands tourist board calls it a "jardín tropical acristalado", and OpenStreetMap maps the building as a conservatory facing Avenida de Canarias, a few dozen metres from the dragon tree. Inside, temperature and humidity reproduce the conditions of the butterflies' native habitats, at about 80 per cent relative humidity and between 24 and 29 °C.

The enclosure combines a planted flight area, where the butterflies move freely close to visitors, with the technical spaces that rearing requires. Incoming chrysalises are inspected and then hung in emergence cages, where adults hatch under controlled conditions, so that new butterflies appear every day. A small laboratory prepares the artificial nectar that supplements the flowers. The sources consulted give neither the dimensions of the building nor the name of its designer.

More than 800 exotic butterflies fly freely in the garden, and over 150 different species can be seen over the course of a year. Because an adult butterfly rarely lives more than about three weeks after leaving its chrysalis, the display depends on constant renewal: emergences take place every day in the hatching cages. The Barceló guide groups the species by origin, with African and American butterflies, the monarch among them, as well as nocturnal species.

The planting is chosen to feed and shelter the insects. Many of the plants were brought directly from their countries of origin, such as Bali, Costa Rica and Thailand, and their flowers are supplemented by an artificial nectar prepared daily in the laboratory. The institution also holds an entomological collection of Lepidoptera registered with GBIF Spain.

The butterfly house stands in the centre of Icod de los Vinos, next to the Drago Milenario and the Parque del Drago, so a visit fits naturally into a walk around the dragon tree, the nearby church of San Marcos and the surrounding squares. Allow between half an hour and an hour on site. Because the glazed garden is kept warm and humid all year round, it can be visited in any season, and the daily emergences in the hatching cages are worth pausing for. The Canary Islands tourist board lists the site as accessible.