Animals Library: butterflies

Showing posts with label butterflies. Show all posts

Amazonian Butterflies Drink Turtle Tears

The sight of butterflies flocking onto the heads of yellow-spotted river turtles in the western Amazon rain forest is not uncommon, at least if one is able to sneak up on the skittish reptiles. But the reason why butterflies congregate onto the turtles may be stranger than you think: to drink their tears.

The butterflies are likely attracted to the turtles' tears because the liquid drops contain salt, specifically sodium, an important mineral that is scant in the western Amazon, said Phil Torres, a scientist who does much of his research at the Tambopata Research Center in Peru and is associated with Rice University.

Source: Here

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Logging threatens Monarch butterflies in Mexico

MEXICO CITY (AP) - A new study of the Monarch butterflies' winter nesting grounds in central Mexico says small-scale logging is worse than previously thought and may be contributing to threats facing the Monarch's singular migration pattern.

The reserve's 33,482-acre (13,550-hectare) core zone lost 41 acres (16.6 hectares) of pine and fir trees so far in 2013, about half of that because of illegal logging, said the study by Omar Vidal, head of Mexico's chapter of the World Wildlife Fund, the WWF, and other authors. The rest of the loss was due to drought or disease-control removal of trees.

Source: Here

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Vital Information about Monarch Butterflies

Cindy Dunn, a teacher and naturalist, provided vital information about monarch butterflies. An informational session was organized in which it was unveiled that people in Mexico have celebrations when monarch butterflies arrive.

It was unveiled in 1970s that monarch butterflies live in central Mexico's mountains during winters. Dunn said they travel about a 2,000-mile journey during winters to find mountains in the fir forests in Central Mexico.

Source: Here

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University of Minnesota butterfly expert confronts monarch decline

Every time a monarch butterfly emerges from its chrysalis and unfurls its delicate wings, Karen Oberhauser stops to watch.

For Oberhauser, a University of Minnesota conservation biologist, an insect that weighs no more than a paper clip but flies to the mountains of central Mexico is a symbol of resiliency.

Source: Here

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Butterfly decline a worrying portent

Butterflies are the essence of cool in the insect world, a favorite muse for poets and songwriters who hold them up as symbols of love, beauty, transformation and good fortune.

But providing good fortune apparently goes only one way. As humans rip apart woods and meadows for housing developments and insecticide-soaked lawns, butterflies across the US are disappearing.

Source: Here

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