Maybe You Should Care Less About Monarch Butterflies

The campaign to save the monarch butterfly is one of the most prominent and effective tools for wildlife conservationists, and many people naturally believe that the species is, at any given moment, hovering at the brink of extinction. The reality is a lot more complicated, and the line between science and symbolism blurs when presented over the spectacle that is the annual monarch butterfly migration.

You can read my reporting on the subject here: https://slate.com/technology/2022/10/monarch-butterflies-endangered-conservation.html

Enormous thanks to Darlene Burgess of Pelee Paradise Monarchs and Estela Romero of Journey North, whose logistical support and monarch knowledge guided this project and made it possible. Thanks also to Anurag Agrawal of Cornell University for his time and insights.

Filmed in 2021.

References:

Agrawal, Anurag A. (2017). Monarchs and milkweed: A migrating butterfly, a poisonous plant, and their remarkable story of Coevolution. PRINCETON UNIV Press.

Carmichael, E., Sayer Chloë, & Mack, J. (2006). The skeleton at the Feast: The Day of the Dead in Mexico. University of Texas Press.

Chowdhury, S., Fuller, R. A., Dingle, H., Chapman, J. W., & Zalucki, M. P. (2021). Migration in butterflies: A global overview. Biological Reviews, 96(4), 1462–1483. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12714

Crossley, M. S., Meehan, T. D., Moran, M. D., Glassberg, J., Snyder, W. E., & Davis, A. K. (2022). Opposing global change drivers counterbalance trends in breeding North American monarch butterflies. Global Change Biology, 28(15), 4726–4735. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16282

Davis, D. (n.d.). How Far North Do Monarchs Migrate? Monarch Breeding Range in North America. Journey North: Monarch butterfly. Retrieved April 19, 2023, from https://journeynorth.org/tm/monarch/RangeCanada.html
Government of Ontario, Updating the Schedule of Noxious Weeds in R.R.O. 1990, Regulation 1096 - General, made under the Weed Control Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. W.5 (removal of milkweed and addition of dog-strangling vine) (2014). Toronto, ON; Weed Control Act.

Guerra, P. A., Gegear, R. J., & Reppert, S. M. (2014). A magnetic compass aids monarch butterfly migration. Nature Communications, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms5164

Gustafsson, K. M., Agrawal, A. A., Lewenstein, B. V., & Wolf, S. A. (2015). The monarch butterfly through time and space: The Social Construction of an icon. BioScience, 65(6), 612–622. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biv045

Merlin, C., Gegear, R. J., & Reppert, S. M. (2009). Antennal circadian clocks coordinate sun compass orientation in migratory monarch butterflies. Science, 325(5948), 1700–1704. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1176221

Nail, K. R., Drizd, L., & Voorhies, K. J. (2019). Butterflies across the globe: A synthesis of the current status and characteristics of monarch (Danaus Plexippus) populations worldwide. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2019.00362

North American Butterfly Association. (n.d.). Butterfly Questions and Answers. NABA. Retrieved April 19, 2023, from https://www.naba.org/qanda.html

Oberhauser, K. S., & Solensky, M. J. (2004). In The monarch butterfly: Biology & conservation (pp. 79–84). essay, Cornell University Press.

Parks Canada Agency, G. of C. (2023, March 22). Monarch butterflies at Point Pelee National Park. Point Pelee National Park. Retrieved April 19, 2023, from https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/on/pelee/nature/faune-wildlife/monarque-monarch

Rendón-Salinas, E., Fernández-Islas, A., Mendoza-Pérez, M. A., Cruz-Piña, M., Mondragón-Contreras, G., & Martínez-Pacheco4, A. (2022). Area Of Forest Occupied By The Colonies Of Monarch Butterflies In Mexico During The 2021-2022 Overwintering Period. World Wildlife Fund. Retrieved from https://files.worldwildlife.org/wwfcmsprod/files/Publication/file/7907txsoa8_Monarch_Butterfly_Survey_2021_2022_May24_2022_.pdf?_ga=2.223700818.878955264.1681900157-135480169.1681287815.

Schappert, P. (1996). (rep.). Distribution, Status and Conservation of the Monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus (L.), in Canada. Montreal, QC: Commission for Environmental Cooperation.

Walker, A., Thogmartin, W.E., Oberhauser, K.S., Pelton, E.M. & Pleasants, J.M. 2022. Danaus plexippus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T159971A806727. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T159971A806727.en.

Xerces Society Western Monarch Count. 2022. Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count and New Year’s Count Data, 1997-2021. Available at www.westernmonarchcount.org.

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