Teaching and Learning with Monarch Butterflies NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario
April 10 & 11, 2013
NIAGARA PARKS BUTTERFLY CONSERVATORY
Niagara Falls Workshop a Success!
There is no better place to hang out for a couple of very rainy spring days than inside a tropical butterfly conservatory. And that's exactly what 30 participants and a crew of experienced MTN staff did on April 10th and 11th when MTN of C presented the first workshop of 2013 at the Niagara Parks Butterfly Conservatory.
Thanks to their incredible staff and facility, the Butterfly Conservatory was able to provide the workshop with monarch eggs, caterpillars, chrysalides and adults. There were pupa dances and perfectly executed emergences and we were even able to do tagging demonstrations, releasing the newly tagged monarchs into the tropical conservatory.
The monarchs used were from a breeding farm in Costa Rica and don't have that 'Gotta Go, Gotta Go to Mexico' instinct and can only be housed in the carefully controlled Conservatory. Butterfly farming in tropical countries is a sustainable form of agriculture and many Conservatories in North America regularly import pupae from places such as Costa Rica and the Phillipines.
It was wonderful to feel and share the energy and passion from such a diverse group of educators that included teachers, naturalists, citizen scientists, Scouters, Outdoors Club leaders and conservation staff.
Watch for the first ever MTN refresher workshop at Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory later this spring and many other MTN of C workshops across Canada this summer!
By Jenn Tremeer, MTN-C graduate and Education and Interpretive Services Coordinator at the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory
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