O. Orkin Insect Zoo

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Upcoming Closure

The Butterfly Pavilion and Insect Zoo will be closed for annual maintenance, September 13 through October 5, 2024. These areas will reopen October 6.

Crawling with Imagination

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Our planet depends upon the vast diversity of hissing, flying, crawling, and pollinating creatures we sometimes call "bugs." The O. Orkin Insect Zoo — the oldest continuously operating insect zoo in the United States, opened in 1976 — features many species of live insects, a "nursery" room where visitors can peek at insect larvae and pupae, and lots of opportunities to interact with volunteers and examine insects up close.

Tarantula Feedings

Public tarantula feedings have been temporarily canceled.

Audio Description

Use your own device to take the new Insect Zoo audio description tour.

Did you know?

We've got a 22-million-year-old termite trapped in amber.

A blue and black Blue Morpho butterfly and two red, orange, and black monarch butterflies

Visitor Favorite

Butterfly Pavilion: Where Beauty Takes Flight

Stroll among live butterflies and exotic plants in this tropical oasis.

Learn More

See What's Crawling Inside

Close up of an eastern lubber grasshopper — Eastern lubber grasshopper. Photo by Rosa Pineda, Smithsonian.

Leaf insect camouflaged on a leaf — Leaf insect (family Phylliidae). Photo by Rosa Pineda, Smithsonian.

Malayan jungle nymph (Heteropteryx dilatata). Photo by Rosa Pineda, Smithsonian.

Did you know?

Kids can climb through a life-size, 14-foot-tall model of an African termite mound!

A green and white tobacco hornworm caterpillar on a green leaf. — Photo by Rosa Pineda, Smithsonian.

Spotlight: Tobacco Hornworm Caterpillar

The tobacco hornworm caterpillar, Manduca sexta, likes to feed on tobacco, tomato, and pepper plants. These caterpillars will turn into Carolina sphinx moths, but when they pupate, they do not spin a cocoon; instead they burrow into the soil. This is how they overwinter in colder regions.