Niagara Parks Butterfly Conservatory

Opened in December 1996 within the Niagara Parks botanical gardens, this climate-controlled greenhouse permanently houses more than 2,000 tropical butterflies flying freely along 180 meters of trails. Since captive butterflies live only two to four weeks, the facility imports up to 3,000 new chrysalises every month from farms in Costa Rica, El Salvador, the Philippines and Australia, while its own emergence room produces more than 45,000 a year. A special netting lines the inside of the glass dome to protect the insects from the cold near the walls.