Lange’s Metalmark, Monarchs and the mysterious Christmas Island Swell Moths - although these butterflies and moths look almost the same with their bright orange wings, they are treated and viewed very differently because of the situations they find themselves in.
Monarchs arrive in California each winter. There, migrating western monarch butterflies nestle among the state’s coastal forests, travelling from as far away as Idaho and Utah only to return home in the spring. In 2019, there is an 86% drop in the number of migrating butterflies. In 2017, scientists estimated that the monarch butterfly population in western North America had a 72 percent chance of becoming near extinct in 20 years. Monarchs require milkweed, a herbaceous plant that grows throughout the United States and Mexico, for breeding and migration. Acreage of milkweed, though, has been declining in recent years because of pesticide use and urban development.
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