The Monarch

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Is a beautiful butterfly that primarily lives in the US and migrated to Mexico & Southern California when the weather starts to get cold... Why make a post about these beautiful insects? Well, at work we have a thing called Bluegreen cares whish is where the company does stuff to support/give back to the environment and think of ways to get guest involved in making a difference. The activities department has decided on a Monarch Butterfly garden and bat boxes. I am in charge of collecting the information for this topic. So I got to searching the web and found an amazing website called monarch-butterfly that has all the information I need like migration patterns, diet, predators, fun facts, anatomy, environmental threats to them and ways to help them survive. A fact I learned was that the larvae can only eat and survive off of milkweed. It is the only plant that has all the vitamins and nutrients the larvae needs to stay strong and turn into a butterfly. Also the only plant that has a toxic chemical in it that helps keep their predators away. Therefore, the Monarch only lays it's begging on these plants. So there was no suprise when I read that humans are the main reason that the milkweed is depleting. Our use of weed-resistant chemicals and herbicides, cutting down the trees and plants to expand with roads and buildings, and even the use of genetically seed to prevent the growth of weeds. This decrease in milkweed has affected their migration patterns by forcing then to only lay eggs on a certain of milkweed called 'tropical milkweed'. This plant can survive in the colder months of the US but unfortunately the monarch can't. So by them being forced to lay their eggs on these milkweeds they aren't migrating to Mexico & Southern California and causing the population to die off because they can't survive the cold where the tropical milkweeds are planted. Also since the plant doesn't die it starts to release a toxic chemical after a few months and consumption of the leaves gives the larvae a parisite that kills them. Thought I would just share this information because people don't know that the monarch are several decreasing in population. Here are some tips from the website above on how to help them: Avoid using herbicides and pesticides. Don't use GE seeds and foods. Plant native milkweeds. Save grasslands. Campaign for climate change. Spread the word about the monarch. Do your own research. Use FSC certificated wood as a means to help stop deforestation. Plant habitat corridors or try to get the city you live in to. Corridors are just the correct plants planted along highways or roads that have destroyed their habitats to help give back some of what they lost. Plus it can make the area look better as well. Create a way station. This is just a habitat of plants for them to live and eat from and lay eggs on. They should be located in sunny areas, have a wild variety of flowers to attract the monarchs. What is your opinion and thoughts on the topic and do you think you would help them? Picture is from Google.