Over the past 20 years, scientists studying monarch butterflies have noticed that the number of monarchs has dropped by about 90 percent. But help may soon be on the way for these bright-orange-and-black butterflies.
Recently a petition was sent by the Center for Biological Diversity, the Center for Food Safety, and the Xerces Society to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, who announced it would take a year to decide whether the butterflies should be considered an endangered or a threatened species. By officially labeling monarchs as endangered, the government can then carry out specific plans to help increase the population of monarch butterflies.
Monarch butterflies are known for their impressive, almost 3,000-mile migration each fall. When the weather starts to get cooler, the butterflies move from summer habitats in Canada and the northern US to warmer winter homes in Mexico and California.
The drop in numbers of this beloved butterfly is partly because of farming practices in the US Midwest, where monarchs are first born. Many farmers there use herbicides, or chemicals that destroy unwanted plants. Unfortunately, the herbicides are also destroying the milkweed plant, which monarch caterpillars feed on.
In the past 20 years, monarch butterflies have lost about 165 million acres of their habitats—an area about the size of Texas. That’s about a third of their summer breeding grounds. And most of their wintering grounds in Mexico and California have suffered from droughts, heat waves, and severe storms, which have been damaging to the creatures. Heavy logging(伐木)in these regions has also been destroying monarch habitats.
If officials label monarchs endangered, the US Fish and Wildlife Service will try their best to ensure that monarchs do not die out.
“To protect our nation’s wildlife, the government should recognize the dangerous situation of monarchs,” says Sarina Jepsen of the Xerces Society. “Protection as an endangered species will enable monarch habitat recovery on both public and private lands.”