A Record Season for Butterfly Conservation

The Minnesota Zoo’s Prairie Butterfly Conservation Program has certainly not slowed down this summer! With record numbers of butterflies reared and released into the field, Read More


A Flutter of Activity

While much of the world has slowed down over the past few months, there has been a recent flutter of activity for the Minnesota Zoo’s Read More


  • Permalink A Poweshiek skipperling caterpillar (left) before overwintering at the Minnesota Zoo and an adult Poweshiek skipperling (right) released in the wild.Gallery

    Frozen in Time – Overwintering Caterpillars at the Minnesota Zoo

Frozen in Time – Overwintering Caterpillars at the Minnesota Zoo

Did you know that many species of insects survive Minnesota winters by “hibernating” throughout the cold months? While some insects, such as the monarch butterfly, Read More


  • Permalink Gallery

    A Milestone – Reintroducing a lost prairie butterfly for the first time

A Milestone – Reintroducing a lost prairie butterfly for the first time

For millennia, they bounced between the grasses and patrolled the purple coneflowers. Dakota skipper butterflies were once widespread across Minnesota’s prairies, where they served as Read More


Happy National Pollinator Week!

Happy National Pollinator Week! Pollinators do a lot, sustaining wild ecosystems and providing 35% of our food. But what are pollinators? Pollinators are animals that Read More


Plant for Pollinator Top 5

Happy National Pollinator Week!  Bees, butterflies and other animals pollinate most wild plants, as well as at least a third of our food. Pollinators have Read More


Butterfly Brew

Minnesota’s prairie butterflies and other pollinators are vanishing along with most of their habitat. The Dakota skipper, a beautiful prairie butterfly, is on the verge of Read More


Take Action During National Pollinator Week!

June 20-26 is National Pollinator week!  Did you know that three-fourths of the world’s flowering plants and about 35 percent of the world’s food crops Read More