Insectarium

Insectarium Review

If you're a little squeamish about beetles and roaches, you might want to give the bug-shape building in the middle of the Espace pour la Vie Jardin Botanique (Space for Life Botanical Garden) a pass, but kids especially seem to love it. Most of the more than 250,000 insects in the Insectarium's collection are either mounted or behind panes of glass thick enough to minimize the shudder factor—a good thing when you're looking at a tree roach the size of a wrestler's thumb. There is, however, a room full of free-flying butterflies, and in February and May the Insectarium releases thousands of butterflies and moths into the Jardin Botanique's main greenhouse. At varying times during the year the Insectarium brings in chefs to prepare such delicacies as deep-fried bumblebees and chocolate-dipped locusts—protein-rich treats that most adults seem able to resist.