Leilani and I went to the Academy of Science once more – this time the lines were shorter. We even went into the tropical rain forest (still 15 minutes or so in line).
The most remarkable thing for Leilani was a movie – Bugs, in 3D. When we got our reservations I asked skeptically “Is it OK for…” and before I could finish the sentence the friendly guy answered “Oh yes, it’s geared towards the 6 an under crowd.” When it started we were there on time, got our goggles, and really good seats (Leilani sat behind 2 rows of children). It was really fascinating. Beautifully done, perfect 3D in color, and very artistic computer effects – but none of that impressed Leilani too much.
She fell in love with a “Papilio” while watching the tiny caterpillar chewing her way out of her egg, then munching on the jungle, avoiding predators and eventually turning into a beautiful butterfly. The the other lead role was “Hierodula”, a praying mantis, its life story just as fascinating and the footage awesome. The narration gave them a lot of personality while being educational. Lots of other bugs and spiders make their way in and out of the story, but it always got back to Papilio and Hierodula. In the end the finally met. When the narrator kept emphasizing how hungry Hierodula was I wanted to take Leilani and run… too late. When it attacked, Leilani did not really get it for a second or so – a bigger girl across the room started crying right away. And then the camera caught the wings dropping down. And Leilani sobbed and cried uncontrollably for the next 5 minutes. A few adults laughed at the 2 girls, but I felt so sorry for them. Leilani kept repeating how cute and beautiful the butterfly was, and how she loved it so much. Fortunately the movie was over and all the noise did not cause too much disturbance.
We talked about death and the food chain for the next 2 hours btw. And we talked about how Leilani didn’t even flinch when the Mantis ate flies.
Click on the “>” to play Leilani’s Mantis – Butterfly song!
Strawberry poison dart frogs in the tropical rain-forest
There were beautiful butterflies, I think this one is called Morphos
I asked her to say “butterfly”…
Banded Orange Heliconia
The had a seesaw bench near the aquarium. Leilani and some other kids had fun on it.
