25
May/10

LIZARDS AND SNAKES AND BUTTERFLIES

25
May/10

The Butterfly Conservatory closes for the summer on May 31 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th St.
“The Butterfly Conservatory: Tropical Butterflies Alive in Winter” through May 31, timed-entry tickets
“Lizards & Snakes: Alive!” through September 2, timed-entry tickets
Admission: $24 with one special exhibition, $32 for all special exhibitions and films
212-769-5200
www.amnh.org

While the American Museum of Natural History is world renowned for its dinosaur collection and taxidermied dioramas, there are currently two exhibits on view that involve living creatures. There’s only one week left to step inside the glassed-in Butterfly Conservatory, in which more than five hundred butterflies and moths flitter about with adults and children alike, landing on heads and clothing, using their long proboscis to suck up fruit juice, and relaxing on leaves and plants. Most of the butterflies have a life span of only a few weeks, so every time you go, you’re sure to see something new. Just be careful where you step, in case one of them is on the ground below you. And don’t be so quick to scratch that itch – it could be a member of the Order Lepidoptera fluttering on your nose. The butterflies will be going on hiatus following Memorial Day weekend, returning to the Upper West Side in October.

Frilled lizards are among more than sixty cool creatures in “Lizards & Snakes: Alive!” (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

More than five dozen squamates wriggle and writhe in “Lizards & Snakes: Alive!,” which continues through September 2. Arranged in separate glass cases based on their evolution, ancestry, and other relationships (some of which is detailed in diagrams of life called cladograms), such amazing animals as a Madagascan giant day gecko, a tropical girdled lizard, a rhinoceros iguana, an eastern green mamba, a Gabon viper, a Gila monster, and a red spitting cobra are on view in miniature habitats. Interactive stations and fascinating facts add insight to the life of these creepy, crawly creatures. On June 19 and 25, Chad Peeling will lead the special family program “Wild, Wild World: Snakes and Lizards,” offering an inside look at squamates. In addition, there are still spots left for “A Night at the Museum” those same days, when kids can sleep over at AMNH and go on their own adventures through one of the world’s finest natural history institutions. (Also on view at the museum is “Traveling the Silk Road: Ancient Pathway to the Modern World” through August 15, “Race to the End of the World” through May 29, and the Hayden Planetarium film JOURNEY TO THE STARS.)