Tagging sheds light on monarch butterfly (Reuters/CNN) {habitat threatened}

[eppur_se_muova]

GRAPEVINE, Texas (Reuters) -- It is a delicate process but for Gayle Hall it is a labor of love: tagging monarch butterflies as part of a program to monitor the movements of one of nature's most celebrated migrants.

"I've tagged 580 monarchs for release today." she said as she held one of the insects gently in her hand, the tiny tag a clear white circle standing out from the intricate orange, black and white of its wing.

Hall's butterflies were released at an annual festival in the Texas city of Grapevine that honors the monarchs, famed for their overland migrations from Canada to Mexico and back again.
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The populations which winter at several sites west of Mexico City are the benchmark for monarch numbers and they are counted by the hectares they cover. Each hectare (2.47 acres) is estimated to hold between 25 to 75 million monarchs.
***
"The long-term outlook for the monarchs is not good," he said, pointing to illegal logging in Mexico and urban development in the United States -- two forces that were eating away at its habitat. Climate change linked to greenhouse gas emissions could well be another threat.
***
more: http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/10/25/monarchs.tagging.reut/index.html

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Wow. Monarchs pass thru my area in Sept/Oct on their way South.

It is amazing. Sometimes the trees are just saturated with hundreds of the butterflies.

[bananas]

2. Please give this thread a Recomend...

"The long-term outlook for the monarchs is not good," he said...

[BrklynLiberal]

5. done.

[irislake]

3. We should help them

by allowing milkweed to grow in our fields and gardens. In Canada unfortunately milkweed is treated as a weed. They need milkweed because that is where they lay their eggs. By the way milkweed pods are delicious to eat. Pick them when they are young and tender. Boil in lightly salted water. Pour off water. Repeat two more times. Then eat with butter. DE-LIGHTFUL!

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Holy crap, I never knew that! Are these the pods that are kinda "fish-shaped"?