Monarch Butterfly
BRANSON MO NEWS: There has been growing concern among biologists and Missouri mayors about the decline of monarch butterflies.
According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the monarchs have declined 90 percent the past 20 years.
Milkweed
Branson Environmental Specialist Mona Menezes said the reason for the huge decline is due to the shortage of milkweed plants, not only in Missouri, but along the monarch butterfly migration path, which extends from Mexico to the Great Lakes.
Monarch butterflies live in Mexico during the winter and fly to Minnesota and across the Great Lakes during the summer, Menezes said. Throughout their journey, butterflies will stop in Texas to lay their eggs and die, then the next generation will stop in Missouri to lay their eggs and die, and finally the third generation will fly to the Great Lakes and stay until it is time to repeat the journey back to Mexico, according to Menezes.
“And at the end of the summer, they turn around and do it all the way back. So, by the time they get back to Mexico, it’s the sixth generation whose never been to Mexico,” Menezes said.
The only plant butterflies will lay their eggs on is milkweed, according to …
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