New exhibit winging its way to Bristol Zoo!
March 19, 2008
An exciting new exhibit will open at Bristol Zoo Gardens this summer, featuring spectacular butterfly and moth species from across the world.
The new house will immerse visitors in a butterfly paradise as they wander through a colourful array of butterflies, moths and flowers. Taking the theme of a tropical rainforest, the undercover walk-through exhibit will also be surrounded by a newly landscaped Nectar Garden, designed to attract native butterflies and moths.
Species arriving at the zoo include the impressive blue morpho, the glasswing and the leopard lacewing, as well as the giant atlas moth, the Indian moon moth and the famous death’s head hawk moth.
Curator of Invertebrates, Warren Spencer, said: “This exhibit will be a celebration of the amazing variety of butterflies and moths from all around the globe.”
The butterflies and moths will be housed in a climate-controlled polytunnel, which will be sustainably heated using biofuel in the form of wood pellets
Butterflies are found in almost every part of the world, from the Arctic to the tropics, and are incredibly diverse – with around 18,000 known species. But in recent years this diversity has declined dramatically, mainly due to human activity such as agriculture, logging and urban expansion. Visitors to Bristol Zoo Gardens will be able to learn about the conservation of rare Invertebrate species and their habitats.
The new exhibit will create links with butterfly projects in Kenya and Costa Rica. Bristol Zoo already supports work to protect and monitor the silky wave moth in Bristol’s Avon Gorge, its only English site, through the Avon Gorge and Downs Wildlife Project.
“Visitors to Bristol Zoo Gardens will be able to learn about the conservation of rare Invertebrate species and their habitats,” said Warren. “These range from insect recovery programmes to community-based habitat protection initiatives and climate change issues.”
Work has already started on building the new exhibit which will open this summer.
ENDS
For more information please contact Bristol Zoo Press Office:
Lucy Parkinson, T : 0117 974 7306, or email: lparkinson [at] bristolzoo [dot] org [dot] uk
Rebecca Sawtell, T: 0117 974 7389, email: rsawtell [at] bristolzoo [dot] org [dot] uk
