Eastern Monarch Butterflies May Be At Risk Of Extinction Within 20 Years

This is sad news.
The Monarch butterflies have always been one of my favorites. One of the larger butterflies to majestically grace US yards.
You see fewer and fewer of them....I've even planted perennial milkweed in my yard....although that doesn't seem to be their favorite type of milkweed. But, I have ended up with a few in my yard....and a small number of caterpillars some years.

The population of eastern monarchs has declined 84 percent from the winter of 1996-1997 to the winter of 2014-2015, according to a Scripps Institution of Oceanography study. .....

This long-term decline means there is a “substantial chance” that monarchs become “quasi-extinct” within the next 20 years, researchers wrote in the study, published Monday in in the journal Scientific Reports. This means that a species is not yet extinct, but has so few individuals that it’s impossible for the population to recover.

www.huffingtonpost.com...

Quite a few species in the world today are in the state of quasi extinction. It simply means while a few members of the species are alive and would continue to exist for a short while, the population, and eventually the species, will go extinct in the near future. Too few members aren’t enough to help the population grow, sustain, or recover. While multiple conservation techniques can be employed to prolong the existence of the species, the long term outlook is almost always bad.

Precise census is quite difficult to come by, but scientific estimation techniques maintained by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has shown a drastic reduction of 84 percent in the last decade.

www.inquisitr.com... 4vI3EU9x5.99

Monarch articles
en.wikipedia.org...
www.monarchwatch.org...

Monarch butterfly migration info.
www.monarch-butterfly.com...

Maybe we can that Monsanto in part, as well as our yearning to take over more and more land for sprawling suburbs, shopping centers and agro-business.

Reasons for monarch population declines are complex, although some evidence suggests that loss of breeding habitat is the primary factor. Other factors include adverse weather conditions in recent years, loss of overwintering habitat, disease and exposure to contaminants.

www.usgs.gov...

This is sad news 📰 I like the critters too!

Noooooo!!!!! That can't happen! Can't they set up butterfly rescue centers or something? Like a glass enclosure with plants???

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

They are so delicate and beautiful. I once was in the path of a migration, and pulled over to the side of the road and danced in them. It was wonderful. Bless you for planting milkweed:

A Center for Food Safety release about the plight of the Monarch butterflies reads, “Herbicides like Roundup don’t kill monarchs directly, but rather kill their primary food source and habitat. Milkweeds are critical to the monarch’s survival because they are the only plants monarch caterpillars will eat. But thanks to the rampant use of Roundup on Monsanto’s genetically engineered crops, milkweed plants in the heart of the monarch’s range have been demolished. Fewer milkweeds mean fewer Monarchs.”

Inquisitr

There are probably a myriad of environmental causations that really don't do any good. Like the bees. Wipe out the pollinators and there goes humanity.

Generally speaking the migrations are still pretty strong over the midwest. We see lots of them every year.

The biggest danger to the entire species is to their wintering forest in Mexico ... a few square miles of trees that aren't really protected.

Sad. I was fascinated with them as a kid. At least they'll survive me.

Wow this brought back many childhood memories - how very sad. I used to see these all the time and have not seen a single on in the last few years.. every year in elementary school we had a couple of days dedicated to raising monarch butterflies, working in the butterfly garden and then releasing them once they came out of their cocoons. This is exactly why I no longer buy produce from stores or products from Monsanto and Co, but instead grow my own and buy only from companies that sell organic, heirloom varieties. Alone I will never make a dent in the destruction our modern growing techniques cause, but at least I am not contributing to the problem.

originally posted by: argentus
a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

They are so delicate and beautiful. I once was in the path of a migration, and pulled over to the side of the road and danced in them. It was wonderful.

I was sorta in the path one year....you'd see one, then two....then a bit later three....if you didn't know, you would not have known.....but knowing made it magical.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

From time to time I see advertising about buying cocoons of butterflies.

Might have to start buying them now.

I've had milkweed plants in my yard for years and the butterfly numbers had changed greatly every year. Four years ago I had over a hundred caterpillars. The last three years I don't think there has been more than ten per year.
It's very concerning.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

I pulled over because I couldn't consider smashing them on my windshield. Yeah, I know how that sounds. Still, it was a great moment that lasted for almost an hour. A few landed on me. I felt like a born-again hippie, lacking only flowers to strew about. Later, I thought to myself, "thank God this didn't happen in [Western state I grew up in]....... they would have shot me.

Thank you Monsanto, you rat bastards

a reply to: DBCowboy

That would be SUCH a cool thing to do!

I know I also have dill planted, and a variety of swallowtail lay their eggs in it....and hatch great looking caterpillars.
Need to plant more this year!!

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

I just might do that this year.

www.google.com...=buy+monarch+butterfly+larvae

a reply to: DBCowboy

I think I will too! Had never really crossed my mind but it'd be a great idea.. now I want to look into buying bees as well. haven't seen a single one of those either since I was younger only hornets and wasps.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Monsatan killed all the milkweeds! They should be fined $20 billion + having to build the world's finest Eastern Monarch Butterfly super terrarium filled with their main course: Milk weeds. Year round climate control, and exporting the females into nature after mating. They should be forced to run this terrarium for 20 years. Oh, why not throw in the bees while we're at it!

Whenever it's the season we bring the caterpillars inside and bring in fresh food everyday as otherwise the stinky wasps kill the caterpillars. I have even seen wasps carry away large caterpillars away. I must remember to plant some swan plants (that's what we call the milkweed) early so we have plenty in supply.

a reply to: InFriNiTee

Exactly! Kill off all the pollinators........... what the hell do we need them for? Like you, I'm really irritated and a bit frightened of what the repercussions are of diminishing their numbers. Are we -- as a species -- really THAT dense? Can't we see what we're doing is upsetting a natural balance that we can't restore if we ruin it?

Makes me want to march and chant. ..... ... .... and join a throng which would, of course, turn into a mob with no mind.

What is the solution? If I HAD a congressperson they wouldn't care.

a reply to: argentus

I don't think there is a good solution because yes, people are that dense. Everyone is obsessed with modern technology, luxuries, money, whatever - food is readily available in every town and no one thinks twice about where it comes from. Our education system fails to note the importance of how the food arrives at the table as well. Ignorance runs rampant and slowly we march to our collective doom. Kids no longer play outside, they are detached from reality, living only in their fantasy games, social media and movies. It is so very sad. Meanwhile true life is dying, and few even bat an eye. We are so disconnected, it saddens me so deeply. Unfortunately, my hopes that the masses realize this in time to do something meaningful are slim.

As for congressmen, well, they are just people, the government is just the people and let us face it - people are blind to the issue. So they will never be the answer.

originally posted by: JustAnObservation
Wow this brought back many childhood memories - how very sad. I used to see these all the time and have not seen a single on in the last few years.. every year in elementary school we had a couple of days dedicated to raising monarch butterflies, working in the butterfly garden and then releasing them once they came out of their cocoons. This is exactly why I no longer buy produce from stores or products from Monsanto and Co, but instead grow my own and buy only from companies that sell organic, heirloom varieties. Alone I will never make a dent in the destruction our modern growing techniques cause, but at least I am not contributing to the problem.

They are a part of my childhood too! I live not to far from a grove they visit on their migration route.
I'm going to have to plant milkweed.
Thank you OP for the sad yet thoughtful OP, you have inspired me to plant 1 or 2 Milkweed plants. I was already thinking of buying some California Lilac (Ceanathus) that attracts a different butterfly, but I love the Monarch.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Sorry the link supposed to be here did not work . BRB .

I looked at the link in the OP and thought i know that butterfly . Seems they came to Australia in the 1870s . While the article is less than flattering the good thing is that the butterfly is not going to die out anytime soon . So if the SHTF we can send you some . Oh and if you need some bees as they are dying accross the wold from bee mite we can send some of those as well , read second quote .

Why is it that this exotic, invasive, non-native, butterfly is seemingly embraced by Australians as a part of the ecosystem? There are hobbyists out there who breed up more monarchs to release. There are companies which will breed monarchs and ship them to you in a pretty container for you to release on your wedding day.

As of mid-2012, Australia was thought to be free of the mite.[9][10] In early 2010, an isolated subspecies of bee was discovered in Kufra (southeastern Libya) that appears to be free of the mite.[11] The Hawaiian islands of Maui, Kauai, Molokai, and Lanai are all free of the mite.