Butterfly Quest
Butterfly Pavilion is a leader in zoo-based research, with some of the longest living butterflies on record!
What is Butterfly Quest?
Butterfly Pavilion’s Butterfly Quest is a unique opportunity to assist with Butterfly Pavilion research, while exploring the world of animal behavior. Help observe tagged butterflies, record meaningful data, and share your discoveries — all on your phone. By participating in Butterfly Quest, you are helping our scientists shape animal welfare here and in zoos around the world!
Butterfly houses, like our Wings of The Tropics, offer a unique opportunity to understand and observe the lifespan of different butterfly species. We are always looking for new ways to improve animal care. To do this with our butterflies, we need to know how long they live and how they behave while under our care. To collect this data, we tag some butterflies upon emergence from their chrysalides. We can then track individuals and truly understand how our butterflies spend their time in their home.
This is where YOU come in! Your contributions to Butterfly Quest help us expand our knowledge of butterflies.
A New Year for Butterfly Quest!
In 2022, guests submitted more than 2,000 observations through the Butterfly Quest platform and physical logs – and we are so grateful! Butterfly Quest in 2023 is back and better than ever with an opportunity to receive 10% discount on items in Butterfly Pavilion’s gift shop by completing a quest, submitting a form, and taking a survey!
Fun facts about Butterfly Quest:
- In 2022, guests submitted more than 2,000 observations
- The longest butterfly lifespan recorded in Butterfly Pavilion’s conservatory was 10 months and 23 days (almost 11 months!).
- The most tagged butterflies were common morphos, followed by common giant owls, and paper kites. In 2022, over 2,200 butterflies were tagged!
- Little is scientifically known about invertebrates, even for butterflies. Butterfly Quest helps inform the latest science on butterfly biology and expands our understanding of tropical insects.
- Butterfly Quest is a community science program, a people-driven way of collecting data and welcoming everyone into taking a hands-on approach to science.
