Monarch Watch

It is a miraculous journey that continues to leave scientists scratching their heads. The monarch butterflies that appear at Sierra Chincua Butterfly Sanctuary in Angangueo, Mexico, have journeyed as far as some of the tourists have – up to 3,000 miles (4,828 kilometers). from as far as Eastern Canada – yet they’ve never been to this mountainous region in the Mexico.  The unsolved mystery is how these Monarchs find the overwintering sites each year.  Somehow they know their way, even though the butterflies returning each fall are the great-great-grandchildren of the butterflies that left the previous spring.

BBEMA is encouraging all teachers, youth and community members to join us in our yearly Monarch Tagging Program – which allows BBEMA to collect data in partnership with other ecologist across North America.

Tagging allows ecologists to associate the location of capture/tag/release of Monarch populations across North America with the point of recovery for each butterfly in Central Mexico.  The data from these tagged butterflies is used to determine the pathways taken by migrating monarchs, the influence of weather on the migration, the survival rate of the monarchs and overall help us protect and conserve butterfly habitats throughout the migration flyway..