Insects have been around for more than 400m years, their ancestors crawling from the oceans to colonise the land long before dinosaurs appeared. They have been enormously successful, evolving into a staggering diversity of more than 1m known species, with perhaps as many as another 4m yet to be described by science. There are more […]
Tag: Monarch Butterfly
The insect apocalypse: ‘Our world will grind to a halt without them’
Ihave been fascinated by insects all my life. One of my earliest memories is of finding, at the age of five or six, some stripy yellow-and-black caterpillars feeding on weeds in the school playground. I put them in my empty lunchbox, and took them home. Eventually they transformed into handsome magenta and black moths. This […]
Petition: List Monarch Butterflies as Threatened Under the Endangered Species Act
Monarch butterflies are such a beautiful species. Aside from being lovely to look at it, Monarch butterflies also play an important role in our environment. They are vital pollinators and food sources for other creatures. These small insects play a big role in keeping a balanced ecosystem. Sadly, the population of Monarch butterflies is on […]
Western monarch butterflies are nearly extinct. California has a plan to save them
In one of the biggest mobilizations of resources and talent ever organized to save an insect, the state of California is teaming with conservation groups, biologists and scores of citizen scientists to rescue the western monarch butterfly from the brink of extinction. To do this, they are placing their hopes on an unassuming, poisonous plant […]
Butterfly numbers plummeting in US west as climate crisis takes toll
The varied, and beautiful, butterfly species that dot the US west are being cut down by the climate crisis, new research has found, with rising temperatures helping cause a steep decline in butterfly numbers over the past 40 years. There has been a 1.6% reduction in the total number of butterflies observed west of the […]
Petition: Monarch Butterfly Denied Protection by Trump Administration
Despite a rapidly declining population and an important ecological niche, the U.S Fish and Wildlife service voted against listing the Monarch Butterfly as “Threatened” under the Endangered Species Act on Tuesday. A change in its status may have led to increased protective measures for the species and its habitat. The US Fish and Wildlife Service […]
Petition: Western Monarch Butterflies Near Extinction With Less than 2000 Reported in this Year’s Thanksgiving Count
The state of our planet’s pollinators took a big blow in 2020. The annual Thanksgiving count of Western Monarch butterflies this year by the Xerces Society yielded less than 2000 individuals, a tragic threshold that has experts worried about the future of the species. In the 1980s, as many as 3 to 10 million Monarch […]
Feature: Stratford Point, Connecticut
This land offers a stunning coastal grassland area near the mouth of the Housatonic River which has of this writing 282 species of bird observed according to eBird data. It was my hope to visit Stratford Point and observe the LeConte’s and Clay-colored Sparrows seen a day earlier at the venue. The Common Loon above […]