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In summer, people in certain parts of the Midwest expect to see Monarch butterflies, but they’re becoming scarce. Experts think that this is because farm fields are now planted with genetically-modified corn and soybeans that are resistant to the herbicide Roundup, so farmers to spray the chemical over the entire crop in order to eradicate weeds. But when they do this, they also kill off the milkweed, which is the butterflies’ favorite food.
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Every year, fragile monarch butterflies fly more than athousand miles, from Canada to their winter home in Mexico.They stop along the way to eat milkweed, one of theirfavorite foods. Until recently, no one knew how theynavigated such great distances, but now scientists havediscovered that they carry a “solar compass” inside theirtiny brains, which picks up ultraviolet light?the lightrange that humans cannot see.
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Monarch butterflies migrate incredibly long distances, from the U.S. to Mexico, and scientists have long wondered how they navigate. Now they know the butterflies use the angle and intensity of sunlight to set their internal clock, giving them a precise sense of when it’s time to head South. And the generation that migrates lives much longer than the others.
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A year ago, we reported that due to a severe winter storm, millions of Monarch butterflies were lying dead in piles more than a foot high in their winter reserve in Mexico. Now the New York Times of February 14 reports that they’ve recovered and are back to nearly normal numbers. This is a relief for those of us who love them and look forward to seeing them every spring.

“It’s more than a little surprising,” says biologist Bill Calvert. “It’s amazing that they recovered so well.” The Monarchs that winter in Mexico make up the entire breeding stock for the Midwest and Eastern U.S. and Canada. So far, they have not been put on the endangered species list.
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