The World of Butterflies
Butterfly Pictures, Monarch Butterflies, Butterfly Lesson Plans and More!
Discover the wondrous world of butterflies
at the Virtual Museum of Canada (VMC)! Drawing on museum collections from across Canada and the world, the VMC is an excellent place to find information on butterflies.
Butterfly Pictures
The fragile beauty of the butterfly is one of its greatest draws, and the VMC makes it easy to see why. In the VMC Image
Gallery, you will find a number of butterfly pictures, including images of Monarch Butterflies, Swallowtails, Viceroys, and others.
Butterflies North and South
The VMC presents Butterflies North and South, a virtual exhibit combining all kinds of information on butterflies from a variety of museums. The exhibit contains a treasure trove of butterfly pictures, including butterflies from both American continents. Find information on Monarch Butterflies and many different species with pictures that demonstrate the range in size and colour that butterflies can take. Also in the exhibit are butterfly garden construction ideas to help make your butterfly gardens as attractive as possible to the butterflies in your area.
Butterfly Lesson Plans
For teachers and students, the Butterflies North and South exhibit offers a wealth of learning material, including butterfly lesson plans and butterfly games with information on Monarch Butterflies as well as many other species. These and other resources are also available in the VMC Teachers' Centre, a great repository of educational tools and programs, created for teachers and students by Canadian museums.
Send a Postcard of Butterfly Pictures
Visit the VMC today to learn all about butterflies, or simply to send a friend a colourful postcard of a Sulphur Butterfly! The VMC Send a Postcard section has more than 80 beautiful electronic postcards to choose from, featuring a variety of items from museum collections across the country.
Habitats
The Gardening section of the Butterflies exhibit examines the perfect conditions for butterfly habitats.
We also recommend:
Virtual Exhibit on Canada’s Diversity: Butterflies
Explore the Insect Database, a Digital Collections site about Canadian biodiversity with a focus on insects. (available only in English)
Birds and Butterflies: The Chemical Signature
Learn about the chemical tool Environment Canada researchers use to help track the migration of monarch butterflies, birds, and other small migratory wildlife.
Curriculum information:
Use this material in your science class where learning outcomes require students to:
- Recognize that each plant and animal depends on a specific habitat to meet its needs;
- Learn about behavioural and structural features of animals that enable them to survive in their habitat.