Butterfly Pavilion and Insect Center

world of insects, arachnids, mollusks, and any number of other invertebrates. It's unlike any zoo you've ever experienced.

For insect enthusiasts, there is no place in Denver where you can find a wider variety of spiders, insects, and of course butterflies. They have many different species of butterflies, including Monarch, the Rice Paper or Paper Kite Butterfly, Green-Banded Peacock Swallowtail, the Clipper, the Greater Mormon, and the Common Blue Morpho. More than 1,200 butterflies call their Tropical Conservatory home, so if you're a butterfly fan, this is a must-see. For those a little more adventurous, there are a number of different insects and anthropods in the Crawl-A-See-Um, including honey bees, walking sticks, praying mantises, giant millipedes scorpions, even a hissing cockroach, but the crowd favorite is always Rosie, the Chilean Rosehair Tarantula. They also have a number of interesting sea animals in their Water's Edge pavilion, but expect to see the usual aquarium finds. Creatures such as the leather sea star, the purple sea urchin, and the horseshoe crab call this place home, and you'll be amazed at the interesting lives these animals live.

For those wanting to know more about all these invertebrates, there are a number of different workshops and classes throughout the week. For children, they have a number of different outreach programs, each aimed at serving your child at just the right age. They have programs for every from preschoolers to high schoolers, so no matter how old or young your child is, they can discover the wonder of the natural world. They also have summer camps for students 5 to 12 years old. For adults, they have a number of different fun and enlightening classes, including classes in photography, and guided tours that teach everything you want to know about the complex world of invertebrates.

Zoos are always a fantastic experience, but it seems fans of insects, arachnids and other anthropods are always let down. Denver apartment-ites wanting to find out a little more about the invertebrate world need only take a trip down to the Denver Butterfly Pavilion and have one great experience, and many even start looking at the creepy crawly creatures they find in their apartments a little different.