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The Cockrell Butterfly Center


Click here for more butterflies!

The Cockrell Butterfly Center and Brown Hall of Entomology provide entertainment and education for the whole family!  Discover the wonderful world of insects, with fun, interactive games and quizzes, spectacular preserved specimens, and living examples of some of the world’s largest and weirdest arthropods.  Enter a stunning, three-story glass structure built around a 50-foot waterfall, a simulated tropical rainforest filled with exotic plants and hundreds of gorgeous, living butterflies. These beautiful, delicate creatures, imported from butterfly farms around the world, will delight you as they flutter through the vegetation, stop to sip nectar or fruit juices, and occasionally alight on lucky visitors. Continue downstairs to the “Insects and Us” section, where you’ll learn about beekeeping, butterfly gardening, mosquito control, and – gulp! – insects as food!   Before exiting, those with toddlers in tow will want to stop off at the “Land of Beeyond” to do a puzzle or two, read an insect-themed storybook, or play in the giant beehive. 

Bugs on Wheels

Teachers, learn about our Bugs on Wheels program. 


Peering through the top of
the Cockrell Butterfly Center


Also included in the Butterfly Center experience is the Brown Hall of Entomology, which houses many other live insects and their relatives, including some of the world’s largest species.  Check out giant horned beetles, bizarre walking sticks, hairy tarantulas, camouflaged mantids, and cuddly cockroaches in the upper level. 

The plants in the Cockrell Butterfly Center are of great interest to those with horticultural leanings.  You may wish to pick up a guide to the plants to help you learn more about the plants when you visit. 


Sometimes they might land on you!

Since it opened in 1994, one of the main goals of the Cockrell Butterfly Center has been to promote butterfly watching, butterfly gardening, and other aspects of butterfly conservation.  Many of the flowering plants that provide nectar for the butterflies can be grown in Houston gardens, thus providing a welcoming area for these delightful and amazing creatures.  Click on the above links to learn more.

Cockrell Butterfly Center Rules

    
No food, drinks or gum are allowed in the Butterfly Center
      No strollers
      Visitors should not touch the plants, butterflies or other animals 
      School groups must provide a minimum of one adult for every ten children
      Handicapped access is available via the elevator to all three levels.