 Saving Monarch Butterflies: How One Local Family Got Involved
By Stephanie Campbell
My family and I had the most incredible experience last summer! A friend gave us a weed from her backyard. What is so exciting about a weed? Well, this plant was a milkweed and it had a small white dot on it. The dot was actually a caterpillar egg.
We watched the dot for about three days, and then one morning, there was a tiny little caterpillar. My son couldn't believe it was so small. Of course, our little caterpillar didn't stay small for very long! Monarch caterpillars eat the leaves on the milkweed plant, and we were surprised at how many leaves he ate. He grew, and grew, and grew. Several days later, we watched him climb to the top of the house we built. He hung from the lid, and looked just like the letter J. All of a sudden he started to wiggle. Then he shook his black and yellow skin off and in just a few minutes he was inside a green chrysalis. It was incredible to watch this event. I bet that you can guess what happened next. In about 10 days he turned into a butterfly.
This was the first of four Monarch butterflies that we raised last summer. His sister emerged, or came out, from her chrysalis a couple days later, and we set them free together. We found that it was pretty easy to tell whether the butterflies were male or female – there are lots of pictures online that will help.
Have you ever watched a beautiful butterfly flit and fly around grass and flowers? They look small and fragile, but are actually pretty resilient. That means that they can survive a lot more than we might think. Even though they can be pretty tough, the World Wildlife Fund categorizes Monarch butterflies as "near threatened" because they are at risk of becoming endangered. Pesticides on crops and other chemicals harm insects. Also, herbicides (weed killers) are killing milkweed and other plants that the adult butterflies use for food. The loss of food sources and habitats for the caterpillars is leading to fewer butterflies surviving.
Did you know that Monarch butterflies travel 1,000-2,000 miles from North America to Mexico for the winter? It is similar to birds migrating south. In 1992, Monarch Watch was formed to track how many Monarch butterflies make it to Mexico each winter. Unfortunately, there are a number of trees being cut down where the butterflies spend their winters, which is one reason for the 80% loss of the Monarch's habitat. Besides human threats, natural threats like cold weather and hungry birds have also caused the population of Monarchs to decrease.
What is being done to help animals like the butterflies? The World Wildlife Fund and Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature are working to preserve the forests where the Monarchs migrate for the winter. They are trying to protect and rebuild their habitats – we can provide butterflies with new homes. Many people, like my own family, are raising butterflies at home. We can plant milkweeds and flowers like Black- Eyed Susan's, Butterfly Bushes and Zinnias that butterflies like for their food. You can find eggs and caterpillars in the wild if you have milkweed plants near your home. There are also a number of websites where you can order your own eggs or chrysalis'. Some websites also provide instructions for tagging your butterflies in order to track their progress down to Mexico.
There are still natural threats
for the butterflies, but there is a lot that we can do to help! It is exciting to be a part of the solution to help keep Monarch butterflies from being on the endangered list. My family really enjoyed watching each of the stages from egg to caterpillar to butterfly, and yours can too.
Stephanie Campbell, full time teacher and mother of two, is from Honeoye Falls, NY. She and her family plan to raise many butterflies this summer, and they are also anxiously awaiting the hatching of their first preying mantis eggs.
Genesee Valley Parent Magazine Copyright.
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