About the Job: Anna Broderick – Entomology Intern

close up of insect caccoons

At Reiman Gardens we get a lot of freedom in our everyday job. I do anything from gardening in the greenhouse to talking to people in the Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing. This is one thing I really like about my job among others.

As the entomology intern I, as you may have guessed, spend most of my time working with the butterflies and making sure they are okay to go into the Butterfly Wing. My day starts with going into the lab and releasing the butterflies into the Butterfly Wing. I like this part of the job because it is the one time I get to put butterflies on little kids. They love it!

From then on, we have our usual daily tasks such as watering the flowers in the Butterfly Wing, filling nectar dishes, and others. Most of my days are packed full of things to do, which is just the way I like it.

My project involves examining what different scents butterflies like. I will be putting out many different scents ranging from florals to spices to see which ones they prefer. This will be a great way to educate visitors and also help with the butterflies in determining what they do with certain scents.