The Montreal Insectarium () is a
natural history museum
A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...
located in
Montreal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
,
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, featuring a large quantity of insects from all around the world. It is the largest insect museum in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
and among the largest insectariums worldwide.
It was founded by
Georges Brossard
Georges Brossard, (February 11, 1940 – June 26, 2019) was a Canadian entomologist and founder of the Montreal Insectarium.
He died on June 26, 2019, at the age of 79.
Biography
An insect enthusiast from a very early age, Brossard held a career ...
and opened on February 7, 1990. Its average attendance is 400,000 visitors per year. It displays both live and dead insect collections, from
butterflies
Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...
to
bee
Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...
s and
ant
Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...
s.
It is one of the city's most popular tourist attractions, along with the
Montreal Botanical Garden
The Montreal Botanical Garden (, ) is a large botanical garden in Montreal, Quebec, Canada comprising of thematic gardens and greenhouses. It was designated a National Historic Sites of Canada, National Historic Site of Canada in 2008 as it i ...
,
Planetarium
A planetarium (: planetariums or planetaria) is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation.
A dominant feature of most planetariums is ...
and the
Montreal Biodome
The Montreal Biodome () is a museum of enclosed ecosystems located at Olympic Park in the Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, that allows visitors to walk through replicas of four ecosystems found in the Amer ...
.
Seen from the sky, the Montreal Insectarium resembles a stylized insect. This can also be seen from the observatory of Montreal's
Olympic Stadium
''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports ...
.
Affiliations
The Museum is affiliated with:
CMA,
CHIN
The chin is the forward pointed part of the anterior mandible (List_of_human_anatomical_regions#Regions, mental region) below the lower lip. A fully developed human skull has a chin of between 0.7 cm and 1.1 cm.
Evolution
The presence of a we ...
, and
Virtual Museum of Canada
Digital Museums Canada (DMC; , ''MNC'') is a funding program in Canada "dedicated to online projects by the museum and heritage community," helping organizations to build digital capacity.
Administered by the Canadian Museum of History (CMH) wi ...
.
Photos
File:Insectarium Montreal1.jpg, Montreal Insectarium
File:Insectarium_bees.jpg, Bee
Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...
display
File:Danaus chrysippus Portrait.jpg, Danaus chrysippus
File:Danaus chrysippus on Asclepias.jpg, Danaus chrysippus on Asclepias
File:Papilio dardanus mating.jpg, '' Papilio dardanus''
File:Papilio demodocus Montreal.jpg, ''Papilio demodocus
''Papilio demodocus'', the citrus swallowtail or Christmas butterfly, is a swallowtail butterfly which commonly occurs over the entirety of sub-Saharan Africa, including Madagascar, besides the southern Arabian Peninsula. The caterpillars feed ...
''
File:Insectaruim bugs1.jpg, Insect Display
See also
*
International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (in Nairobi in Kenya)
*
Monsanto Insectarium (in St. Louis in Missouri in the US)
References
External links
Official Website (English version)
Natural history museums in Quebec
Insectarium
An insectarium is a live insect zoo, or a museum or exhibit of live insects. Insectariums often display a variety of insects and similar arthropods, such as spiders, beetles, cockroaches, ants, bees, millipedes, centipedes, crickets, grasshopp ...
Zoos in Quebec
Insectariums
Buildings and structures in Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie
1990 establishments in Quebec
Zoos established in 1990
1990s in Montreal
{{Canada-museum-stub