Monarch butterflies have always been used to conduct a kid friendly activity to display the process of metamorphosis. The butterflies are also notable for their long distance travel from Mexico to the U.S. and Canada, and back. However, over the past 20 years, the population of butterflies have been dwindling from billions of butterflies to now only millions. Although the number of butterflies seems reasonable and high, monarchs need to be accompanied by a greater amount than millions to survive threats, such as harsh weather. The main reason for the decline in population among the butterflies is due to the use of Roundup Ready, which allows farmers to easily spray herbicide directly onto crops such as corn and soy bean plants. Although Roundup Ready is helping protect the corn and soy bean crops, it kills milkweed crops, which are vital to monarch butterflies. Milkweed plants are the only food source for monarch butterflies, and are used for raising monarch larvae. In order to better the situation, even just planting milkweed plants, that are untampered by insecticides, in your backyard will help. One of the most hands on activity and exciting activity children ever get to do during school is watch caterpillars become butterflies, and we would never want to take that joy away from kids in the future.
(Monarch Butterfly on milkweed plant)
Picture:
https://goodmorninggloucester.wordpress.com/tag/plant-milkweed/
The Environment is Everything 