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Butterfly Museum
In all the neotropics there are few sights more spectacular than watching the lazy flight of an iridescent blue male Morpho cypris, lazily sail above the canopy of the rain forest or along a river on a brilliantly sunny day. Who could ever forget their first encounter with the large Owl's Eye butterfly as it slowly opens and closes its wings while feeding on a rotten mango on the forest floor? The loud sound of a large 12 cm male rhinoceros or hercules beetle as it flies into a camper's tent is enough to chill anyone's spine. How long will these beautiful creatures continue to fly undisturbed in the forests of Honduras?
Honduras has 11.2 million hectares of land. 4.5 million are covered by different forest types. These forests are being destroyed at the rate of 2.5 percent a year due to cattle production, slash and burn agriculture and extensive logging. For the past 21 years the governments of Honduras and Canada have been developing a program that will permit a sustainable usage of the tropical rain forests. Honduras now has 17 National Parks, seven Wildlife Refuges, eight Biological Reserves, oneAnthropological Reserve and one Biosphere Reserve. A comprehensive general environmental law was passed in 1993.
To assist in this conservation endeavor, Robert Lehman, a long-time butterfly collector in Honduras, has opened a museum in La Ceiba, Honduras. Over 5000 incredible butterflies and moths of Honduras are displayed on the walls in all their stunning beauty. Another wall is covered with more than 1000 other insects such as beetles, wasps, flies, grassopppers, dragonflies, cockroaches, etc. Also displayed are over 500 butterflies from 15 different countries. The 1000 square feet of floor space is full of displays on beer-banana traps, night collecting lights, posters, hands-on-microscopes, etc. Bilingual (English-Spanish) videos are shown on a 25 inch stereo television. All this can be enjoyed in a comfortable air-conditioned environment at a low nominal entrance fee.
Comments such as very educational, what colors, very impressive, wow, extraordinary and necessary, incredible, cool, exceptional, most unique, many thanks for an informative a.m., etc. are written in the guest book as visitors leave the museum. Come visit us in La Ceiba, Honduras and help protect the habitats in which these insects live. Colonia El Sauce, 2 etapa, Casa G-12.
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