Science & Nature
Chicago’s Nature Museum Announces New Add-on Fee for Popular Butterfly Haven Attraction
(Jill Wellington / Pixabay)
Citing increased costs and changes in funding, Chicago’s Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum has announced it will begin charging an add-on fee for its popular Butterfly Haven.
Beginning Feb. 2, non-members will have to pay $5 — on top of the price of general admission — to enter the Butterfly Haven. Access remains free for museum members.
The new fee is “necessary to help support the care of our butterflies and the specialized environment they require, while helping fund the conservation, education, and science programs that bring the Nature Museum to life every day,” museum officials said in a statement.
The haven — a 2,700-square-foot greenhouse — is home to more than 40 species of butterflies, as well as birds, flowers and tropical trees. The daily release of newly emerged butterflies and moths is part of the museum’s educational programming, illustrating the insects’ life cycle from caterpillar to chrysalis to winged adult.
The Nature Museum was founded in 1857 as the Chicago Academy of Sciences. Its longtime home was transferred to Lincoln Park Zoo in the 1990s, and its current building in Lincoln Park opened in 1999.
The museum continues to offer free admission to Illinois residents 52 days of the year, spread across the calendar. General admission ranges from $8 to $17.
Contact Patty Wetli: [email protected]
