Butterfly rainforest in the city

Hundreds of the world's most exotic butterflies have been unleashed in a temporary rainforest in Kensington.

The Butterfly Jungle exhibit at the Natural History Museum opens its door for the second year tomorrow and boasts an even greater number of flora and fauna.

Housed in the museum gardens, it is a 350-square-metre tent built to recreate the effect of a tropical rainforest.

Heated to between 29C and 32C, the exhibit is home to 300 butterflies, which it is hoped will breed over the coming months to number thousands.

Vines will grow to the roof, and visitors will be able to walk through the exhibit while butterflies fly around and even land on them.

Louise Cracknell of the Natural History Museum said: "We wanted to create the feeling of what it's really like in the rainforest, and to let children see the butterflies up close.

"Education is a big part of the experience, and we have a lot of information boards for both children and adults."

Visitors will also see the full life cycle of the butterflies, with a glass-fronted area allowing them to see butterflies emerge from their pupa, or chrysalis.

As well as butterflies, visitors will be able to see a range of rainforest animals including spiders, scorpions and even a gliding frog. However, these have been kept behind glass.

"We ran the exhibit last year and there were just butterflies, so we wanted to improve it."

One of the most popular attractions is Charlie the green iguana. He was donated to the museum by his north London owner. Before moving into the butterfly jungle, he was the star of the museum's Darwin exhibit. The exhibit also features emperor scorpions, usually found in West Africa. They have a strange bluish-green tint, and will be illuminated under ultra-violet lights for visitors to see.

Miss Cracknell said: "We don't encourage the children to touch the animals, but they are landing on people and we can't stop that. They're attracted to brightly coloured clothing, so it's best to wear black."

The exhibit looks at the different levels of the rainforest, with graphics and displays of which species live where. "Diversity and survival are the two main themes, and we hope visitors will learn a lot more about these incredible areas," she added.

The exhibit is open from tomorrow until 27 September, and museum staff hope it will attract up to 100,000 visitors. Tickets cost £6 for adults and £4 for children.