Displaying items by tag: monarchs in mexico
Mountain monarchs inspired Wanda DeWaard’s legacy of citizen science
Successful Smokies monarch tagging project is a product of the people
Every winter, way up in the oyumel firs in Mexico’s high elevation forests, millions of North American monarch butterflies that have traveled from as far north as Canada cluster in colonies to overwinter before flying north again to lay eggs in spring. Tens of thousands of monarchs might adorn a single tree like a papery gown, sometimes weighing it down enough to break off branches.
To get to the oyumel forests several miles above sea level, which provide a perfect microclimate for the weary travelers, they migrate south using different aerial paths, or flyways, that merge together over Central Texas. This migrating generation can live up to nine months and might travel anywhere from 1,000-3,000 miles to the forests they seek, yet have never been to. Mysteriously, they find their way and sometimes even make it to the exact tree where their ancestors four or five generations back once clustered.
Monarchs are the only butterfly that makes a long two-way migration. Despite much research on the species, science still hasn’t fully unraveled the secrets of their incredibly accurate homing system. This makes them one of the true marvels of the natural world.
- monarch butterflies
- smokies monarchs
- wanda dewaard
- monarch tagging program
- eastern north american monarch butterflies
- monarchs in mexico
- oyumel firs
- great smoky mountains institute at tremont
- tremont butterflies
- tremont tagging
- tremont butterfly tagging
- elan young journalist
- register for monarch tagging
- citizen science
- monarch watch
- milkweed
- milkweed toxic to birds
- monarch conservation