The monarch butterflies leaving the northern United States and Canada this fall have a new portrait on Central Park West. Monarch's Journey, an exhibit of illustrations by graphic novelist and environmentalist Peter Kuper, opened on Friday, October 16, at the American Museum of Natural History on the Upper West Side. It follows the butterflies on their roughly 3,000-mile flight to the mountain forests of central Mexico, and it is included with any museum admission.

Where it is and what you see

The exhibit wraps the walls on the second floor of the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation, next to the museum's butterfly research collection. Kuper's illustrations run alongside a video installation of monarchs in motion. The drawings imagine what the butterflies pass over on the way south: the New York City skyline, interstate highways, mining operations in West Virginia, tomato fields in Florida, the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans after the flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina, and the streets of Monterrey, Mexico.

The museum timed the opening to the start of the annual migration. According to the museum, the trip south can take a monarch up to two months, and by winter the butterflies gather in large clusters in the forests of central Mexico to wait out the cold.

A window into 1.3 million butterflies

From the exhibit, visitors can look through a window into the museum's butterfly research collection, which holds more than 1.3 million specimens, including thousands of monarchs from around the world. That collection is part of the museum's scientific holdings of more than 30 million specimens and objects, which researchers use to study questions including wildlife conservation and the effects of climate change.

The exhibit was curated by Jessica Ware, chair of the museum's Division of Invertebrate Zoology. Museum President Sean M. Decatur described it as a meeting of science and art meant to give visitors a way into the monarch's world.

Live butterflies across the hall

Directly across from Monarch's Journey on the Gilder Center's second floor is the Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium, a sunlit gallery with up to 80 species of free-flying butterflies, including monarchs. One floor down, the Solomon Family Insectarium covers 400 million years of insect evolution with interactive exhibits and microscope stations.

What you can do at home

The exhibit lists simple steps for helping pollinators, starting with planting native milkweed, the plant monarchs need to reproduce. It also suggests planting flowering plants, leaving parts of a lawn unmowed and avoiding insecticides. The museum points out that monarchs are only the most familiar of the insects that pollinate crops, break down organic matter and aerate soil.

Take one home

The museum store on the Gilder Center's first floor is carrying monarch and insect gifts tied to the exhibit, including Kuper's graphic novels and two numbered, signed limited-edition prints of his work. One of the prints is an original drawing Kuper made for the museum.

Plan your visit

Monarch's Journey is on view now on Floor 2 of the Gilder Center at the American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street. It is included with any admission; timed tickets and current hours are on the museum's website. The B and C trains stop at 81st Street–Museum of Natural History, and the 1 train stops at 79th Street.

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