Butterflies! They taste with their feet and have a suction tube for a mouth. Their eyes have thousands of lenses and see flowers in ultraviolet light. During their lives, each butterfly transforms from caterpillar to pupa to fluttering adult.
As butterflies deserve recognition, we’ve created a special experience in their honor. Butterfly Jungle is an annual springtime celebration at the Safari Park.
Each spring during our Butterfly Jungle special experience, the Safari Park's Hidden Jungle becomes a habitat for thousands of colorful butterflies. Inside this rainforest greenhouse, Butterfly Jungle Safari participants can see—and stroll among—many varieties of butterflies.
Preparation for this event starts months in advance. We import the butterflies while they’re still pupae, from butterfly farms in Central and South America.
Our habitat is not intended to keep an ongoing population of butterflies. We don’t include host plants, and the butterflies don’t lay eggs. Most adult butterflies live less than a month, so many of our butterflies complete their lives naturally.
