The following story is contributed by the Florida Museum of
Natural History, one of Natural History magazine’s Museum
Partners. Members of any of our partner organizations receive
Natural History as a benefit of their museum membership. At the
Florida Museum of Natural History, visitors may enjoy hundreds
of exotic butterflies in a rainforest setting, witness a South
Florida Calusa Indian welcoming ceremony, experience a life-
sized limestone cave, and see a mammoth and mastodon from the
last Ice Age. Permanent exhibits include Northwest Florida:
Waterways & Wildlife; South Florida People & Environments;
Florida Fossils: Evolution of Life & Land; and the McGuire
Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, which features the
screened, outdoor Butterfly Rainforest exhibit with hundreds of
live butterflies. Located at the University of Florida, in
Gainesville, this is Florida’s state museum of natural history,
dedicated to understanding, preserving and interpreting
biological diversity and cultural heritage. For fur