Hi friends, welcome back! I’ve officially crossed off the first item on my 2026 Bucket List: visiting the Museum of Natural History. Jon and I last went in 2019 and since then they’ve opened a new wing called the Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation. This addition took nine years to complete and opened in 2023. It is designed to resemble a canyon and adds over 230,000 square feet to the museum. Included in this new wing is the Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium that I’ve been wanting to see.
You need a separate timed entry ticket to visit the butterflies that is an extra $5 a person. The room is quite small, so this helps with crowd control. It’s also worth noting the room is 80 degrees inside. This was a welcome reprieve on a cold winter’s day.
This exhibit has over 80 species of butterflies and it was fun to see all the butterflies flitting around the room. I wore red in hopes of a butterfly landing on me, but I had no such luck. The workers were very helpful at pointing out the different species and could answer any possible question you’d have.
Feeding stations are set up throughout the exhibit to get a closer look at the butterflies. These are Owl Butterflies, a Paper Kite Butterfly, and the Scarlet Swallowtail Butterfly.
This tube featured two Atlas moths, some of the largest insects in the world. Their wingspan can be up to 10 inches. I would not want one of these flying around my room!
We also got tickets (an extra $5/person) for the exhibit Impact: The End of the Age of Dinosaurs. I didn’t read carefully and I thought it would be new dinosaur bones, but it was as the name implies, about the end of the dinosaurs and a bit depressing.
Afterwards we strolled through the dinosaur room and it’s always impressive seeing the size of them.
We spent about two and a half hours here before we got museumed out. Violet had the best seat in the house and fell asleep on the way home. A lot of excitement for her!
The Museum of Natural History is a must see in NYC and I’d highly recommend adding on the tickets to see the butterflies. The museum is open every day except Christmas and Thanksgiving from 10:00am until 5:30pm.