Meet a virtuoso pilot, as light as a feather that follows its instincts to land in woodlands thousands of kilometers away.
Image: LUIS ACOSTA/AFP/Getty Images
Advertisement
Around this time of year, as the summer wanes in the northern US and Canada, giving way to cooler air, it will soon be time for a beautiful species of orange, black and white butterfly known as the Danaus plexippus, or Monarch, to spread its wings for a journey that makes it unique not only in its Papilionidae family but in the world.
These amazing, yet tiny creatures will soon set off en mass - millions of them taking to the sky at the same time - to head south for the warmer climes of Florida and Mexico.
Unlike any other species of butterfly, they can fly distances of up to 2,800 kilometers (1,700 miles) as they migrate away from the cold that would kill them.
Where have all the butterflies gone?
Everyone likes butterflies. They're beautiful and they don't sting or bite us. But these colorful insects have seen a dramatic decline in the past few decades. And the reason why is even more alarming.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/T. Schmitt
Delicate creatures
Across the globe, butterflies are under threat. According to the German Wild Animal Foundation, the number of butterfly and moth species present in Germany has halved over the last 30 years. For diurnal butterflies, that decline is nearer 70 percent. This photo shows Colias hyale, which was selected as Germany's "butterfly of the year" in 2017.
Image: picture alliance /Nothegger, A./WILDLIFE
Sweet juice
Butterflies adore the sweet sap from flowers and blossoms, and enjoy a broad palate. But plant diversity is dwindling, particularly in regions where intensive monoculture agriculture dominates, which leaves little choice for our beloved butterflies.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Weihrauch
Butterflies don't like pesticides
Crop protection products like herbicides and pesticides destroy biodiversity. Wild herbs, plants or flowers can't survive in areas with monoculture farming. In many parts of Germany, the scarce Swallowtail butterfly pictured here was once a common sight, but has now vanished from the landscape.
Image: picture alliance/blickwinkel/S. Ott
Insects are dying off
The big problem is that pesticides aren't only harming butterflies. Studies show that some regions have seen 80 percent decline in insect numbers compared to 30 years before. Bees, bumblebees, dragonflies, wasps, flies, bugs and butterflies - they all struggle to survive in our intensive-agricultural world of pesticides and fertilizers.
Image: picture-alliance/K. Nowottnick
Not enough to eat
A recent study shows that bird numbers are also in a decline. One reason: They can't find enough insects for food. The population of northern lapwings in Germany, for example, is estimated to have shrunk by 80 percent between 1990 and 2013. The number of whinchats has dwindled by 63 percent and black-tailed godwits by 61 Prozent.
Astonishingly, the butterfly decline is particularly obvious in the countryside. In towns and cities butterflies are more numerous. They thrive in parks, on cemeteries, on uncultivated land but even in city centers. Here, they obviously find the plant diversity which they miss in the countryside.
Image: picture-alliance/Arco Images/L. Werle
6 images1 | 6
Once they reach their wintering grounds, they slip into a semi-dormant state before waking to the call of spring. Only then do they seek a mate, reproduce and die.
But that is not the end of the story, because even after their death, they pass the incredible migration baton onto their children or grandchildren, who instinctively know how to get back to their forbears’ breeding grounds. Regardless of the fact that they have never been there before.
It’s one of those miracles of nature that has fascinated scientists since the phenomenon was first discovered. But given that the unique creatures are guided, at least in part, by environmental changes, conservationists are worried about their future.
Shifting weather patterns brought about by climate change threaten to interfere with their migration pattern. And as they congregate in forests, the species is also facing a loss of habitat as a result of deforestation.
