Environmental Appeal : Butterfly House Creates a Flutter

The doors have opened to one of the world’s largest butterfly centers, where the spectacle of a thousand free-flying tropical butterflies is accompanied by a gently delivered environmental appeal to help the fragile creatures survive.

Billed as the largest glass-enclosed butterfly conservatory in North America, the Day Butterfly Center joins the ranks of the world’s foremost conservatories in London, Melbourne, Australia and Tokyo, said officials of Callaway Gardens, where the center is located.

Callaway Gardens, 70 miles southwest of Atlanta, is a 2,500-acre nonprofit botanical garden and resort that attracts more than 750,000 visitors annually from throughout the United States. The butterfly center, opened in September, is named for Cecil B. Day, founder of Days Inns of America, whose widow contributed a large part of its $5.3-million cost.

Tropical Foliage

The octagon-shaped conservatory, which houses hummingbirds as well as tropical butterflies, features a 12-foot waterfall and a stream ending in a pool. Lush tropical foliage, including nectar-producing plants that butterflies feed on, abound in the glass enclosure.

Visitors enter this 7,000-foot tropical landscape and walk among the plants and butterflies, native to countries in Central and South America, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan. Mist, ventilation, heating and air conditioning systems keep the environment right for the butterflies, whose average life span is two weeks.

Response to the center has been overwhelming, garden officials said. Thousands of letters have been received, many from children, expressing an interest in visiting the facility, public relations director Judy Russell said. She said even before opening the butterfly center was booked to January by school groups and garden clubs.

“We can’t go anyplace without people asking about our butterfly house,” Russell said. “It’s creating a tremendous excitement in our region. The word is out.”

122 Species

There are about 18,000 species of butterflies in the world, and 122 of them will be represented at the Callaway center, 50 from tropical countries and 72 outside in a 1 1/2-acre native butterfly garden.

In another building not open to the public, the center operates a butterfly farm where the insects are raised from eggs to the adult stage.

Frank Elia, a lepidopterist and center manager, said the center plans to raise 65% of its butterflies and import the remainder. “There are some that we can’t raise,” he said.

Elia said that while there is no danger of the butterfly becoming extinct as an order, “there is a lot of danger in losing individual butterflies.

“A lot of people like to paint a picture of doom. We’re nowhere near a picture of doom. Through education and public awareness, we can change a lot of what is taking place,” Elia said.

Public Awareness

“I hope what we can do is increase public awareness of the value and beauty of the butterfly.” Butterflies serve as pollinators and as prey for predators in the food chain, he said.

“What can I do to attract butterflies? I hope that will be our take-home message.”

Elia said butterflies are attracted to gardens in sunny areas that are landscaped with nectar-producing plants.

There are eight species of North American butterflies classified as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Seven are butterflies from California, and one is a Florida butterfly called Schaus’ Swallowtail. An entire population of this butterfly in the Florida Keys was killed by a hurricane in 1935. Later, another small population was found in the Keys, but today Schaus’ Swallowtail is on the edge of extinction, environmentalists say.

Some kinds of butterflies, such as the Xerces Blue of California, are already extinct.

Monarch in Danger

The Monarch butterfly, one of the more common, also is in danger, said Elia, despite its large numbers, because it annually migrates thousands of miles to just six small sites in Mexico. Such concentrations of a species creates the possibility of extinction, he said.

Loss of habitat--such as tropical rain forests--poses the greatest danger to butterflies, along with the widespread use of pesticides, severe weather and large-scale collecting.

Harold Northrop, president and chief executive officer of Callaway Gardens, said he was dubious about the idea of the butterfly center until he visited several in England. “When I saw them, I said, ‘This is it.’ ”

Northrop said the aim of the center “is to further enhance our role as a world leader in ecological and environmental education, leading to better understanding of the delicate balance of the living world.”