Ecobreves – MEXICO: The Monarch Returns

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MEXICO CITY, Feb 21 2011 (IPS) - The population of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and the forest area it occupies in Mexico grew last year in comparison to 2009, according to reports from various organizations. “The fact that there are more colonies is because there is a greater influx of butterflies migrating. In the United States, at the end of the summer, the climate conditions were cooler and that affected the species fertility,” Eduardo Rendón, coordinator of the Monarch Program in Mexico City of the World Wildlife Fund, told Tierramérica.

Monarch monitoring, conducted in December and presented Feb. 14 by the WWF-Telcel Alliance (with the Mexican mobile phone company), and the National Commission on Protected Natural Areas, found that the monarchs occupied an area of 4.02 hectares — 109 percent more than in the previous season.

Monarchs migrate every year between October and march from Canada and United States to the Mexican states of Michoacán (southwest) and Mexico (central).