Zoo Boise is opening its Butterflies in Bloom Exhibit Saturday. You can walk through a greenhouse-like mesh enclosure with hundreds of butterflies. Zoo Boise Director Steve Burns says the butterflies come from Costa Rica. “It gives the farmers in that area the opportunity to make money off of the forests rather than have to cut it down and ranch it so it’s a great way for those folks to keep the rainforests intact and still make money for their families.”
Butterfly cocoons of many different kinds are shipped Fed Ex from Costa Rica to Boise, where they hatch at the Zoo. There are up to 500 butterflies in the enclosure at any given time.
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