Monarch Migration
Each fall the monarch butterfly travels thousands of miles to spend the winter in the forests on 12 mountaintops in central Mexico. The monarch migration is the most spectacular two-way migration carried out by an insect.
The forests provide unique microclimatic conditions that allow monarchs to survive the winter. Forest degradation is putting this amazing migration in peril.
The abundance of monarchs shows a discouraging downward trend over the past 20+ years. Click on the graph to enlarge and on this link to read how the numbers were obtained.
In the Spotlight
On November 22, 2019, the tourist season opened at the Sierra Chincua Sanctuary in Angangueo, Michoacán. As part of this event, Silvano Aureoles, Governor of the State of Michoacán, Hilda Dominguez, Municipal President of Angangueo and Carmelo Martínez, Ejido Leader, unveiled a plaque that remembers Lincoln for “his passion for monarchs, nature, science and conservation”, and commemorates the fact that it was in this sanctuary where Lincoln first saw a butterfly colony and called it “Site Alpha”. MBF Board member, Isabel Ramírez, read a beautiful thank you message from Lincoln’s wife, Linda Fink and gave a brief overview of Lincoln’s work and the role he played in the conservation of this site.
This tribute was made on the initiative of Ejido Cerro Prieto’s ejido leader, with support from Monarch Butterfly Fund, the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, the Monarch Fund and the UNAM Environmental Geography Research Center (CIGA). The memorial is symbolized by a large butterfly made of quarry stone designed by architect Vladimir Argueta-Márquez from Zitácuaro, Michoacán and carved by Maestro Agustín García-Alvarado from Tlalpujahua, Michoacán.