Researchers found that the number of monarch butterflies that migrates to Mexico during the winter season is continuously decreasing. In December 2013, the population of the monarch butterflies was recorded to be 56 percent lower than 2012.
Experts from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and officials from the Mexican Government announced on Wednesday fear that the migration of butterfly monarchs may disappear as they estimate that only 35 million butterflies are still migrating to other places during the winter. Since 1993, the overall coverage of the butterflies' migration in the Mexican forest documented represents only the number of butterflies that survived the winter each year.
Monarch butterflies migrate to Mexico when winter starts on their summertime homes in the United States and Canada. Mexico's Sierra Madre Mountains also serve as a winter getaway for butterflies. The monarch butterflies are guided with their internal compass which points them to places where the temperature and the humidity is ideal for their survival. Once they found a spot perfect for them, the butterflies will hang upside down, displaying their beautiful patterns, before they start their northward trip when the winter ends.
Conservation biologist from the University of Minnesota, Karen S. Oberhauser, who has been studying the monarch butterflies for years, stated that the recent migration statistics is quite alarming.
"This is the third straight year of steep declines, which I think is really scary," Oberhauser said to N.Y Times. "This phenomenon - both the phenomenon of their migration and the phenomenon of so many individuals doing it - that's at risk."
Oberhauser also claimed that monarch butterflies may be the most noticeable victims of habitat destruction. Aside from the butterflies, many other species of insects and pollinators are also decreasing due to habitat loss. These insects' populations are dwindling, along with the population of the predators which rely on them for food.
