Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

A glass-walled greenhouse filled with free-flying tropical butterflies is the centerpiece of the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. In the warm, densely planted Judy Istock Butterfly Haven, visitors walk among the butterflies as they feed and rest on flowers, sometimes landing on people as they pass.

The museum sits in Chicago's Lincoln Park beside North Pond. Its galleries focus on the nature of the Chicago region and the wider Midwest, including prairie and wetland habitats and the plants and animals that live alongside the city. Displays are largely hands-on, and the museum is especially popular with families and young children.

The museum is run by the Chicago Academy of Sciences, founded in 1857 and one of the oldest scientific institutions in the city. The Academy's natural history collections support its research and exhibits. The present building opened in 1999 and draws around 300,000 visitors a year.