Mexico's Monarch Butterflies in Sharp Decline EarthTalk
go to original June 9, 2013

The extraordinary journey made by millions of butterflies each autumn from Canada, through the USA to Mexico is revealed in minute detail for the first time in the film "Flight of the Butterflies." (DocumentariesNews)

The monarch butterfly, royally adorned in black, white and reddish-orange and able to migrate as far as 2,800 miles, is a true wonder of nature. Each year monarchs travel from Canada and the U.S. to hibernate in the forests of central Mexico. But in recent years the monarchs have been in sharp population decline due to habitat loss, eradication of the plants it depends upon and other environmental factors.

The decline in monarchs has been going on for two decades, but the last few years have been particularly worrisome. Mexico's National Commission of Natural Protected Areas reports a 59 percent decline in the area of forest there occupied by overwintering monarchs since December 2011. Meanwhile, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) reports that overwintering populations along the California coast have shrunk from over a million individuals counted at 101 sites in 1997 to less than 60,000 at just 74 sites in 2009. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which maintains the "Red List" of endangered species around the world, recognizes the monarchs' annual migration as an "endangered biological phenomenon."

According to Monarch Watch, an educational outreach program based at the University of Kansas that engages citizen-scientists in monarch monitoring and conservation efforts, habitat destruction is one key driver in the monarch's demise.

Read the rest at HealthNewsDigest.com

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!