Sensational Butterflies: live tropical butterflies at the Natural History Museum - in pictures

Sensational Butterflies opens at at the Natural History Museum on 6 April in London. The exhibition is divided up into five sensory zones exploring how butterflies see, hear, taste, smell and touch Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Children from Hackney, London, were the first to visit Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

A girl plays with a butterfly at the Sensational Butterflies exhibition at the Natural History Museum Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

The exhibition runs until September Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

The butterflies will drink from a specially designed pond, rich with minerals, to encourage breeding Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

All the tropical butterflies in the museum’s butterfly house are bred from common species in their country of origin including Belize, Costa Rica and parts of Africa and Asia Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

A blue morpho butterfly sits on a leaf in the Natural History Museum in London Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

A swallow tail butterfly. The exhibition, which opens this week, aims to urge gardeners to plant butterfly-friendly flowers to help turn around the fortunes of dozens of species in decline Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

A birdwing butterfly, so-called because of its vast wingspan Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

Luke Brown, butterfly house manager at the Natural History Museum Photograph: Kevin Webb/NHM Image

Staff affixing chrysalises to a tree branch Photograph: Photoshot

Chrysalises hanging with butterflies emerging from them at the Sensational Butterflies exhibition at the Natural History Museum Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

A girl allows a butterfly to be placed on her nose Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images