10: Benches at the Merian Garden

If you’re lucky, one of the white wooden benches will be free. I would advise you to take a little break there. Look at what is flying around you and what is crawling out of the bushes. You already know the tiny Chinese Painted Quail and colorful finches. These are not just beautiful to look at; they are also helpful in the natural control of plant pests that thrive in warm, humid climates. If you’re lucky, a blue shining butterfly will land on your shoulder: the Blue Morpho. It actually is colorless. However, the light is refracted so often on the scales, arranged like roof tiles on its wings, that it appears bright blue. Watch him carefully, but please don’t touch his wings. Otherwise, he can no longer fly to the feeding place. Now you have already learned a lot and are real natural scientists, like the artist Maria Sybilla Merian. In memory of her, we hung some of her great plant and animal pictures that she painted over 300 years ago.