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Monarch Butterflies

An Endangered Species

By Viva MariePublished about a year ago 3 min read
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Monarch Butterflies
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on Unsplash

Monarch Butterflies:

An Endangered Species

How did monarch butterflies become endangered?

Back in the 1990’s, hundreds of millions of monarch butterflies gathered in Mexico. Today, only a small portion of that number still m akes the incredible journey there. So, how did the monarch butterflies become endangered? There’s a few factors that play into this, the first being pesticides. Around one billion pounds of conventional pesticides are used each year in the USA alone. They’re used for insects, weeds and other pests, but they also affect the monarch caterpillars that eat the milkweed that gets sprayed. The monarch’s habitat is also slowly being lost, which, in turn, leads to the loss of more monarchs as well.

What’s being done to help them?

Scientists and other conservationists are tagging monarchs so they can track them to watch their thousands of miles migration. This way, they can study their habits and their favorite habitats to stop at along the way. This helps them understand when they might be in danger of losing their habitats. To help scientists track monarch’s migrations, people are also sending in pictures of monarchs so the scientists can see where they are at a certain time.

What can I do to help the monarchs?

There’s quite a bit that you can do o n your own to help monarchs, too! Planting milkweed (host plants; the plant that monarchs lay their eggs on and caterpillars eat) in your backyard helps, since too much of it is poisonous to the monarchs due to the previously mentioned pesticides. If you find a monarch caterpillar, you can raise the chances of it making it through metamorphosis and becoming a butterfly greatly by taking it in, raising it yourself, and releasing it once it’s a butterfly. You can also plant the monarch butterfly’s favorite flowers, like butterfly bushes, cosmos, goldenrod, zinnias, lilacs or lantanas, so if a monarch decides to stop by your home, it has a feast waiting for it in your garden.

How do I raise monarch caterpillars?

If you find a monarch caterpillar on your milkweed plant and you’d like to raise it, first, get a container (make sure it’s big enough for your caterpillar to move and grow, like a mason jar). Cover the jar with a piece of mesh or a coffee filter. Remember to supply your caterpillar with fresh milkweed leaves every day. You may have to transition your caterpillar to a larger container before it goes into its chrysalis; it will eat much more as it gets bigger, so you need room for enough leaves, enough space for the caterpillar to move around, and multiple open spaces where the caterpillar can hang when it’s ready. When they grow big enough, they’ll hang in a “J” formation, and soon they will be in their chrysalis. After about 8-12 days, the chrysalis will turn dark, you’ll be able to see the monarch’s wings, and soon, your butterfly should emerge. Give the butterfly time to dry off (sometimes it takes an hour, sometimes less) and straighten its wings, and then bring it outside. I like to set it on a flower in the sun, just in case it isn’t quite ready to fly, but if it’s really ready, sometimes it’ll fly right off your finger. If it’s extremely windy or rainy when you’re releasing your monarch, put it in a sheltered area where it is protected from weather but still free to fly away when it pleases.

There are a lot of things that you can do to benefit the monarchs, and boost their chances of surviving. Together, we can make a difference!

Nature
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About the Creator

Viva Marie

I'm Viva Marie. Ever since I was four years old, I've loved to write. Even before that, I would scribble lines in my notebooks, pretending I was writing a story. I love writing about adventures, nature and rebellious girls with big dreams.

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