Victoria Butterfly Gardens

Infobox zoo
zoo_name=Victoria Butterfly Gardens
logo=VBGLogo.gif
logo_width=140px
date_opened=
location=Brentwood Bay, British Columbia, CAN
area=12,000 sq. ft
num_animals=2,000-2,400 butterflies
num_species=35 species of butterflies
members=
website=http://www.butterflygardens.com/index.html

The Victoria Butterfly Gardens is located in the Greater Victoria region of Brentwood Bay and is one of the most popular tourist sites in the Victoria area. The Victoria Butterfly Gardens is known for having different species of butterflies and moths in their indoor facility, as well as, different species of birds and fishes. The gardens opens daily except for the winter months of November, December and January, because they will not have the sunlight and temperature to keep the butterflies and moths alive.

Environment

The indoor facility of the gardens is computer-controlled to maintain the temperature, light, mist, cooling and humdity of the simulated 12,000 square foot rainforest. The environment of the simulated indoor-rainforest has over 250 species of tropical plants, which includes carnivorous plants and a water fall that connects to the meandering stream.

* [http://www.butterflygardens.com/photolog/index_plants.php The Garden's plant encyclopedia]

Butterflies

The Victoria Butterfly Gardens have 35 different species (2,000 - 2,400 in population) of butterflies and moths that fly, eat and lay eggs, freely inside the indoor facility. Visitors to the gardens can watch the nursery window and view the butterflies emerging from the chrysalis, which is around 350-400 emerging butterflies, per week, that are captive-bred and shipped by butterfly farms from Costa Rica, Malaysia and London, England.

The plants in the gardens are known as "host" and "food" plants for the butterflies. The "host plants" are used by butterflies to lay their eggs, outside of the nursery window. The "food plants" are used by butterflies to feed on, after they emerge from their chrysalis. However, the staff of the Victoria Butterfly Gardens feed the butterflies trays of fruits, which are hanged around the environment.

* [http://www.butterflygardens.com/photolog/index.php The Garden's butterfly encyclopedia]

Birds and Fish

In the streams of the gardens is home to two varieties of carp. The most notable and largest in the stream is the koi. The koi share the streams with their distant carp cousins, the goldfish.

All over the gardens, there are different kinds of birds. Some of them share the air and fly amongst the butterflies, some swim in the streams with the fish. The birds of the gardens are popular attractions, because of their antics and behaviours that rises the entertainment value for the visitors. The most popular birds in the gardens is "Bungy", the Sulphur Crested Cockatoo and "Spike", the Puna Ibis, both of whom usually interact or show off their behaviours to visitors. Other such birds at the gardens include, the Violet Plantain Eater and the Caribbean or American Flamingo

* [http://www.butterflygardens.com/photolog/index_birdsfish.php The Garden's birds encyclopedia]

External links

* [http://www.butterflygardens.com/ Official website]