((PKG)) PIA – BUTTERFLY WONDERLAND
((Banner: Butterfly Wonderland))
((Executive Producer: Marsha James))
((Camera: Kaveh Rezaei))
((Map: Scottsdale, Arizona))
((Pop-Up Banner: Butterflies from around the world are
gathered at a conservatory in Arizona))
((NATS))
((Dayna Cooper, Curatorial Director, Butterfly
Wonderland))
It's a bright and sunny morning in Scottsdale, Arizona, here
at Butterfly Wonderland. So, Butterfly Wonderland
conservatory is 10,000 square feet (3048 square meters) of
tropical paradise in the middle of the Sonoran Desert. We
always have at least 70 different species of butterflies from
all over the world. They come from tropical Africa,
Southeast Asia, Central and South America, and we get the
North American butterflies from Florida.
I appreciate even the smallest of creatures and their role in
the ecosystem overall. When you watch butterflies in action,
they just always look like they're having so much fun, with
not a care in the world. And really they don't, because their
brains, well, are very small, and they say the average
lifespan for a butterfly is two weeks. The lifespan in here is
extended because the conditions are perfect. There's plenty
of sunshine, the weather is always good, there's lots of food
and no predators.
The UV light that we get here is so intense and it really
drives the activity of the butterflies and it supports all of the
plants. And what it does is it creates an environment that is
so inspiring and so beautiful that people are literally
awestruck when they first come in here. But then, it makes
them very receptive to learning about this ecosystem and
how it, kind of, represents areas of our tropical world.
((NATS))
((Dayna: Good morning ladies.))
((Visitor: Hi. What are they doing there?))
((Dayna Cooper, Curatorial Director, Butterfly
Wonderland))
So, those butterflies are actually feeding on a very special
concoction we call “banana brew.” And we make it here out
of overripe bananas and dark beer and sugar. That’s a real
butterfly party. And we do also have two chickens. They’re
really important for pest control inside the conservatory.
((NATS))
((Visitor: Okay.))
((Dayna Cooper, Curatorial Director, Butterfly
Wonderland))
Well, butterflies are pollinators. They are now studying the
structure of the scales on the wings. So, without any scales
at all, a butterfly's wings are transparent, totally clear. The
way the light hits it and is reflected, is what gives them their
color. So, those blue butterflies that just flew past here, are
not really blue at all.
((NATS))
((Dayna Cooper, Curatorial Director, Butterfly
Wonderland))
Ooh, there's some fun behavior. I don't know if you can get
that. When you get a number of them together, that swirling
around and chasing each other, that's actually two males.
So, it kind of looks like a courtship dance, but it's really more
of a territorial display. To maintain a conservatory like this in
the middle of the desert takes a lot of monitoring. I spend a
lot of my day making sure that the temperature is right, the
humidity is right, the evaporative coolers are working, the
mist system is coming on when it should. Every day that I
come into work is a pleasure for me. I feel like one of the
luckiest people in the world, and people mention this every
day. They say, ‘Oh, you have such a great job.’ And I say,
‘Yeah, yeah, I really do,’ because I do. I'm so lucky.
((NATS))
((Banner: Butterfly Wonderland))
((Executive Producer: Marsha James))
((Camera: Kaveh Rezaei))
((Map: Scottsdale, Arizona))
((Pop-Up Banner: Butterflies from around the world are
gathered at a conservatory in Arizona))
((NATS))
((Dayna Cooper, Curatorial Director, Butterfly
Wonderland))
It's a bright and sunny morning in Scottsdale, Arizona, here
at Butterfly Wonderland. So, Butterfly Wonderland
conservatory is 10,000 square feet (3048 square meters) of
tropical paradise in the middle of the Sonoran Desert. We
always have at least 70 different species of butterflies from
all over the world. They come from tropical Africa,
Southeast Asia, Central and South America, and we get the
North American butterflies from Florida.
I appreciate even the smallest of creatures and their role in
the ecosystem overall. When you watch butterflies in action,
they just always look like they're having so much fun, with
not a care in the world. And really they don't, because their
brains, well, are very small, and they say the average
lifespan for a butterfly is two weeks. The lifespan in here is
extended because the conditions are perfect. There's plenty
of sunshine, the weather is always good, there's lots of food
and no predators.
The UV light that we get here is so intense and it really
drives the activity of the butterflies and it supports all of the
plants. And what it does is it creates an environment that is
so inspiring and so beautiful that people are literally
awestruck when they first come in here. But then, it makes
them very receptive to learning about this ecosystem and
how it, kind of, represents areas of our tropical world.
((NATS))
((Dayna: Good morning ladies.))
((Visitor: Hi. What are they doing there?))
((Dayna Cooper, Curatorial Director, Butterfly
Wonderland))
So, those butterflies are actually feeding on a very special
concoction we call “banana brew.” And we make it here out
of overripe bananas and dark beer and sugar. That’s a real
butterfly party. And we do also have two chickens. They’re
really important for pest control inside the conservatory.
((NATS))
((Visitor: Okay.))
((Dayna Cooper, Curatorial Director, Butterfly
Wonderland))
Well, butterflies are pollinators. They are now studying the
structure of the scales on the wings. So, without any scales
at all, a butterfly's wings are transparent, totally clear. The
way the light hits it and is reflected, is what gives them their
color. So, those blue butterflies that just flew past here, are
not really blue at all.
((NATS))
((Dayna Cooper, Curatorial Director, Butterfly
Wonderland))
Ooh, there's some fun behavior. I don't know if you can get
that. When you get a number of them together, that swirling
around and chasing each other, that's actually two males.
So, it kind of looks like a courtship dance, but it's really more
of a territorial display. To maintain a conservatory like this in
the middle of the desert takes a lot of monitoring. I spend a
lot of my day making sure that the temperature is right, the
humidity is right, the evaporative coolers are working, the
mist system is coming on when it should. Every day that I
come into work is a pleasure for me. I feel like one of the
luckiest people in the world, and people mention this every
day. They say, ‘Oh, you have such a great job.’ And I say,
‘Yeah, yeah, I really do,’ because I do. I'm so lucky.
((NATS))
