Brookfield Zoo has a summer, seasonal butterfly exhibit (Butterflies!) open Memorial weekend through the end of September (weather permitting). The zoo displays about 450 butterflies per week. Educators are on-hand to enhance educational experiences and activities at the butterfly exhibit, a summer invertebrate program, and with other invertebrates zoo-wide. The zoo offers several butterfly gardens and plans to add a pollinator garden over the next couple of years.

Staff has also been engaged with butterfly activities beyond the zoo grounds. For example, one program staff member and a horticulturalist work as consultants for two alternative schools for challenged and at risk kids. With a community service grant, they are working with the students to create community butterfly gardens, gather information on butterflies, and are currently starting a greenhouse for butterfly plants.

Based on a survey done in 2003, the zoo plans to provide more education on butterfly gardening to visitors in the summer of 2004. The zoo also hopes to work more closely with the Peggy Notebardt Nature Museum in Chicago on important conservation work on local rare butterflies in the future.

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