Fewer Monarchs Surviving Winter Migration to Mexico Laura Zuckerman - The Star
go to original January 12, 2015

Monarch butterflies migrate to warmer regions each winter, but in recent years Mexico has seen far fewer monarch arrivals. Environmental changes have eliminated the butterflies' sources of food and shelter along the way. Independent video journalist Ross Velton reports on efforts to help monarchs survive their journey south. (PBS NewsHour)

Declining by more than 90% in the past two decades, the monarch butterfly may soon exist as nothing but memory.

Monarch butterflies may warrant US Endangered Species Act protection because of farm-related habitat loss blamed for sharp declines in cross-country migrations of the orange-and-black insects, the US Fish and Wildlife Service says.

Monarch populations are estimated to have fallen by as much as 90% during the past two decades because of destruction of milkweed plants they depend on to lay their eggs and nourish hatching larvae, according to the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.

The loss of the plant is tied to factors such as increased cultivation of crops genetically engineered to withstand herbicides that kill native vegetation, including milkweed, says the conservation group.

Read the rest at The Star

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