ButterflyWorld -20000 unique butterflies and birds fly here!

Butterfly World opened on March 28, 1988, with several acres of butterfly birdhouses, botanical gardens, and Boender's carefully crafted butterfly farm and research center over the years. In the following years, the park continued to expand, adding two tropical bird houses, a place to interact with parrots, and a skilled team of bird breeders and researchers to support these efforts.

In addition to the park, Boender and Butterfly World also launched the North American "Bring Back Butterflies" movement in 1988. This program aims to educate and provide free butterfly gardening materials from each region to anyone interested. The plan has achieved great success and has become a phenomenon, bringing thousands of new butterfly habitats and increased butterfly populations to the entire continent.

Boender has also been actively supporting off-site research, utilizing Butterfly World's profits and expertise to establish the Boender Endangered Species Laboratory at the University of Florida. Butterfly World, in collaboration with scientists there, has played an important role in rescuing the endangered Schaus Swallowtail, which is reappearing in South Florida and may soon be removed from the endangered species list.

The butterfly world is a product of a person's crazy hobby.

Ronald Boender was born into a Dutch immigrant family and grew up in Illinois. Growing up on his father's farm, he discovered butterflies such as cabbage butterflies, black swallowtail butterflies, and silkworm moths, and was fascinated by butterflies from a young age.

In 1968, he moved to Florida and retired from his successful career as an electrical engineer. He decided to actively pursue his interest in butterflies and began raising local butterflies and butterfly food plants in small quantities at home.

When he learned about the market for selling "farmed" butterflies to universities and zoos, Boender founded MetaScience Co., a commercial butterfly farm, in 1984. MetaScience employees produce up to 1000 butterfly pupae per week and have established butterfly rearing methods, which are still used in the butterfly world today.

During this period, Bond also learned that overseas, especially in the UK, there was a growing trend of "butterfly pavilions". He was very interested in this and went to the UK in 1985 to meet Clive Farrell, the founder and owner of the Butterfly Garden in London. They became friends and soon collaborated to establish Butterfly World, the first butterfly house in the United States and the largest butterfly house in the world.