The road to extinction is paved and without potholes. If you follow the road, you will find yourself at a lovely, weed-free subdivision. And the species going extinct, in this instance, is the lovely monarch butterfly.
Monarch butterflies are notable
for both their beauty and the migrations they undertake to survive our North
American winters. The monarchs from the
Eastern side of Canada and the United States migrate to the Sierra Madre
Mountains of Mexico. Monarchs in
Western North America overwinter in California.
Some of the butterflies will fly as far as 3,000 miles.
In the last 20 years, the
butterflies have experienced a devastating crash in their numbers. According to an AP article I read: “Scientists
estimate the monarch population in the eastern U.S. has fallen about 80% since
the mid-1990s, but the drop-off in the western U.S. has been even steeper.”
In some places where, at one
time, tens of thousands of butterflies would gather for the winter, today, only
a few hundred might appear.
A lot of factors can be blamed
for this. Climate change. Loss of habitat. And, surprisingly, the eradication of
milkweed is a major factor.
Monarch females lay their eggs exclusively
on milkweed. Milkweed is the only plant monarch
caterpillars can eat.
Several years ago, I strove to
establish a population of milkweed (not really a weed in my eye) on my
property. I was doing this specifically
for the monarch. My efforts failed. I may take another run at that this
year.
Here is a link to the AP article
I read about the plight of the monarch: https://apnews.com/article/monarch-butterfly-moves-close-extinction-d74874fe777b57edce510b0e716b6f34
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