Imagine the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory ahead of you at 1316 Duval Street in Key West, Florida, United States. Step closer and you’ll feel the hush of a climate-controlled, glass-enclosed habitat that’s home to 50 to 60 different species of live butterflies from around the world. Around you are flowering plants, trees and the soft, constant sound of cascading waterfalls that give the space its gentle, enveloping life.
Bright wings flit past and share the air with several species of free flying, “butterfly friendly” birds — American flamingoes, red-factor canaries, zebra finches, cordon-bleu finches and the small “button” or Chinese painted quail. Inside the conservatory there’s also a learning center where you can get a close-up view of a variety of live caterpillars feeding and developing on their host plants, watching the very beginnings of the butterfly life cycle. The whole place is designed for close, careful looking: botanicals, water, birds and butterflies arranged to let you move slowly and notice detail.
Picture the glass walls, the flowering plants and the cascading waterfalls filling this space.