What do farms and parkas have to do with monarch butterflies? It's all part of an initiative by farmers in Quebec and Vermont to grow milkweed for the endangered butterflies, and it's getting a boost from a parka company using the plant's fibers..
The annual overwintering count of monarch butterflies shows that butterfly numbers fell by nearly one-third this year reversing last year’s recovery from historically low numbers.
An American study released earlier this year said there is a possibility that the number of monarch butterflies could fall so low their migratory patterns will be disrupted. The study authors said that could lead to the Monarch becoming "quasi-extinct."
Travelers along Interstate 35, stretching from northern Minnesota to southern Texas, will soon be seeing a lusher more natural scene as they drive along the highway, all because the road is being turned into a pollinators corridor.
Endangered Monarch butterflies face their greatest threat as the largest mining company in Mexico plans to reopen a copper mine inside the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, home to tens of millions of monarchs during winter.
For some time scientists have raised alarm bells over the beautiful Monarch butterfly. Those bells just got a little louder with the release of a study that suggests the Monarch could actually become "quasi-extinct" in the not-too-distant future.
The David Suzuki Foundation is asking Canadians to knit during the spring as a way of symbolically welcoming monarch butterflies back to the country after a long, difficult winter in Mexico.
A group of 52 members of the U.S. Congress are looking to save the beautiful Monarch butterfly. To help do so the politicians sent a letter to Pres. Obama last week asking him to put the iconic insect on the endangered species list.
Toronto -
A charitable body is calling upon the government of Canada to take action to protect the monarch butterfly. This is in response to dwindling numbers of the colorful insect.
The Sierra Club has begun an online petition to convince the U.S. government to do more to save the monarch butterfly. Monarch numbers have dwindled dramatically and the club says scientists know the cause to be a product made by the Monsanto company.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service issued a press release on how the monarch butterfly has been nearly wiped out due to loss of habitat related to agricultural practices.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, along with the National Wildlife Federation, launched a major new campaign on Monday to halt the decline of the monarch butterfly, earmarking $3.2 million for the project.
It may not be a startlingly beautiful plant, nor is it of much use to modern man, but the once-ubiquitous milkweed is critical to the life-cycle of the Monarch butterfly. New research suggests it may be even more important than previously thought.
College Station -
The number of monarch butterflies migrating from Mexico to Canada has declined by almost 60% to the lowest level in 20 years. As a result, the population is now estimated at only a fraction of the number of butterflies that existed fifteen years ago.
.jpg)
