Monarch Butterfly

It is an annual event of colorful, fleeting proportions when royalty travel through the Sunflower State every September. The monarch butterflies waft through wood, prairie and town gracing us with their presence on their way south to winter in Mexico.

Below are links with information on the butterflies, their lives, the annual migration and the dangers these beautiful creatures face in the 21st century. The resources below include some Kansas links as well.

GENERAL INFORMATION

"Monarch Butterflies Caught, Tagged to Track Migration"
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2011/sep/19/monarch-butterflies-caught-tagged-track-migration/
(Lawrence Journal World, September 19, 2011)

Migration of the Monarch Butterfly
http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/SciRefGuides/butterfly.html
(Library of Congress Science Reference GUides)

The Monarch Butterfly and Milkweed
http://ed.fnal.gov/entry_exhibits/insect/monarch.html

Monarch Butterfly
http://www.nature.nps.gov/biology/migratoryspecies/monarchbutterfly.cfm
(US National Park Service)

Earthshots" Satellite Images of Environmental Change
Angangueo, Mexico
http://earthshots.usgs.gov/Angangueo/Angangueo
(The southern home of the monarch butterfly in Mexico is threatened by thinning and clearing of trees the insects depend on for habitation)

Monarch Larva Monitoring Project
http://www.mlmp.org/
(The Monarch Larva Monitoring Project (MLMP) is a citizen science project involving volunteers from across the United States and Canada in monarch research)

Monarch Butterfly Lifecycle
http://www.thewildones.org/Animals/monarch.html
(The Wild Ones Animal Index)

Monarch Butterfly Program
http://www.fws.gov/international/DIC/regionalprograms/mexico/monarch.html
(Since 1995, the Wildlife Without Borders-Mexico Program has made a continuing commitment to support the conservation of monarch butterflies. By working with various partners to protect the monarch overwintering habitat, the Service helps ensure that highly valued butterflies in the United States are protected on their multi-generational migration through Mexico)

KANSAS CONNECTION

Monarch Watch
http://www.monarchwatch.org/
(Kansas Biological Survey, University of Kansas)

Monarch Butterfly
http://www.gpnc.org/monarch.htm
(Great Plains Nature Center)

Butterfly on the Brink
Text: http://www.features.ku.edu/monarchs/
YouTube: http://youtu.be/MdtDcKg-x8w
(University of Kansas article. "Intense deforestation in Mexico could ruin one of North America's most celebrated natural wonders -- the mysterious 3,000-mile migration of the monarch butterfly")

Monarch Butterflies in Space
http://youtu.be/u3lcgYNyCvU
(Monarch Watch — a KU-based network of students, teachers, volunteers and researchers dedicated to study of the monarch butterfly — is providing caterpillars to NASA, along with a special artificial diet. If all goes according to plan, the insects will eat, grow and go through metamorphosis to emerge as adult butterflies in 17 days while in low Earth orbit)

Article contact: Bill Sowers
(Check out recent additions to our collection)