Zoo Review: Philadelphia Insectarium & Butterfly Pavilion

The Philadelphia Insectarium and Butterfly Pavilion has the distinction of being the first facility I have ever learned about through a commercial.  True, the commercial wasn’t for the facility itself.  Instead, it was an ad for Bug Out, the miniseries about the disappearance of thousands of dollars’ worth of animals from its collection.  Still, it was enough to put the facility on my mental map.  I heard that the collection had been rebuilt and I assumed that a facility with that many animals of such value must have a lot of interesting species.  I’m not normally a huge inverts person, but my curiosity was piqued.  The next time I was in Philadelphia, I decided to go.

Oh…my…

The museum is a three-story structure.  The gift shop takes up most of the ground floor, while the second floor is taken up by a playroom.  Most of the animal collection is on the third floor.  As I walked up the stairs, I saw the walls dotted with display cases of mounted insect specimens with informative labels.  It made a decent first impression, that this was a serious educational facility.  Then I went into the exhibit room.

My one mental takeaway after the visit was, "I've never seen a roadside insect zoo before..."

What struck me the most about the facility was the lack of security - and this at a time when the only thing I'd ever heard about it was the theft (I hadn't watched the series yet at this point, and just knew the premise).  The displays were a series of tanks, about half of which were set into walls around the perimeter, the other half on two large tables in the center of the room.  What startled me was that the tanks on the table were not secured - I actually went and picked one or two of them off (just testing - sometimes when I'm in a ridiculous situation at another zoo I want to see what could happen if a visitor decided to just go wild - I'm careful never to take an actual risk that could endanger an animal).  If I'd carelessly knocked one over, or shoved it, I could have shattered it, spilling animals on the floor.  Heck, I could have walked out the room with one, or at least maliciously picked it up and shaken it.  All of these with no staff present.  Some were also unsecured - I could have reached into a tank and pulled out an animal and put it in my bag... or just let it loose.  I hoped that they had folks up watching the room on busy days - as it was, a friend and I were up there by ourselves.  There was a phone number posted on the wall if you wanted to call a staff member with a question, so then again, maybe not.  From watching the show I later determined that there were cameras on the room so staff could have known what happened if any mischief occurred, but by that point the damage would have been done.  

Enclosures for the invertebrates were reasonably sized, for the most part, and well-furnished.  There was a tiny number of reptiles and mammals which, on the other hand, seemed woefully inadequate.  A cage for an armadillo located on the floor had no substrate and there was a small appliance (a humidifier?) in the center, with the wire running through the enclosure.  I didn't actually see the armadillo so perhaps it wasn't in there at the time - but it still surprised me at how ill-suited it was.  An enclosure for a hedgehog had no latch on it.  Meanwhile, there was a guide to insects chained to a wall, like a pen in a bank.  It actually amused me a little bit - that flimsy laminated guide had better security than most of the animals.

Back on the ground floor is the entrance to the butterfly pavilion, which was pleasant enough with some very beautiful species, including my favorite, the blue morpho.  The walk-through featured a side-display of a chrysalis chamber, a pretty common feature of zoo and museum butterfly gardens, which allows visitors to watch as butterflies emerge from cocoons.   The pavilion was also accompanied by habitats for boa constrictor and green iguana which, if nothing special, were far superior to the reptile tanks upstairs.  Conversely, there was a small nocturnal gallery that featured a scorpion in a tank tank with a UV light over it to show the glow.

A surprising amount of the space in the facility was taken up with bizarre décor, such as a fake skeleton hanging from the ceiling and what appears to be a pile of old grandfather clocks.  The artwork is bizarre, including a series of paintings of a naked child which is frolicking with a giant caterpillar in a manner that, if not actually child porn, struck me as close enough that I decided that having pictures of it on my phone (even to show colleagues who might not believe me otherwise) wasn't something I especially wanted.

I did see some interesting species, including a few that I'd been interested in for some time, such as the gooty sapphire tarantula of India.  There was an exhibit of termites in a section of log that I considered especially innovative; given how many animals rely on termites for food and their mounds for shelter, it would have been an interesting addition to many a conventional zoo.  I was equally surprised by how many typically common insect zoo specimens I did not see, such as Chilean rose tarantula, Vietnamese giant centipede, or, that classic feature of invert education, a honeybee colony (the former two could have been off-exhibit).  I did, however, see a hell of a lot of cockroaches - and I'm pretty sure they weren't all feeders.  

If anything, this place frustrated me.  It had so much potential and could have been so cool, an excellent accompaniment to the other facilities in the area.  It could have collaborated with breeding programs with other zoos.  It could have filled the niche left by the closure of the Invertebrate House at the National Zoo, featuring educational, innovative exhibits that highlight the true diversity of animal life on earth, the vast majority of which is spineless.  Instead, it just felt sketchy and neglected.

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When I got around to watching Bug Out shortly after this trip, I decided that maybe I wasn't that surprised after all by the state of the facility.  Nor was I terribly surprised to hear that, earlier this month, the facility has filed for bankruptcy.  No wonder they got "robbed," I thought.  I could have walked out the door with half the collection and I doubt anyone would have stopped me.  So, if this place is on your radar, see it soon - who knows how much longer it'll be here.

Philadelphia Insectarium and Butterfly Pavilion