Butterfly House adds color to the Medicine Park Aquarium

MEDICINE PARK — What could be more colorful than a house filled with butterflies?

You don’t have to look for an answer when you can travel to the Medicine Park Aquarium and Natural Sciences Center now that it’s Butterfly House officially opened for the season on Saturday. These beautiful little pollinators are housed due to a sponsorship by the Terry K. Bell Charitable Trust, according to Trisha Parker, facility marketing director.

The exhibit features species native to Oklahoma. Visitors will have opportunity to view metamorphosis in various stages. The larvae and pupae are developing and viewable in a small enclosure within the Butterfly House, Parker said. Feeding sticks will also be available for purchase, enabling visitors to feed the butterflies nectar and get a close view.

Deputy Director Nicole Brown said this year’s programming is centered around milkweed, which is important for monarch butterflies specifically but is also a great food source for other butterflies and pollinators. It’s another way of educating visitors.

“Helping the public, especially kids, understand how vital pollinators are to our world is really important to us,” she said.

The exhibit will be open through the end of October.

The Metamorphosis House inside the exhibit will be opened daily to release any butterflies that have emerged from the chrysalis so they can fly freely and feed on flowering plants and nectar sticks, Parker said.

Featured species include monarch, black swallowtail, American lady, painted lady, gulf fritillary, red admiral, and mourning cloak.

The facility, No. 1 Aquarium Drive off of Oklahoma 49, is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week.