A monarch butterfly, tagged with a tiny radio tracker, successfully reached Mexico to spend the winter after just five weeks of starting its journey from Winnipeg. The butterfly, known as “MB26011,” completed the remarkable feat by crossing the northern Mexico border, covering about 2,300 kilometers in 40 days. Laura Burns, the conservation program manager at Assiniboine Park Zoo, described it as an incredible migration story in the animal kingdom.
Collaborating with Environment and Climate Change Canada researchers and Living Prairie Museum staff, Burns tagged 29 monarch butterflies in Winnipeg, marking the first time monarchs were tagged west of Ontario. The butterflies were delicately tagged with radio trackers using eyelash glue before being released. The movements of these butterflies have been tracked using the Project Monarch app, which monitors their journey between Canada and Mexico.
While most butterflies are showing resilience, some did not make it out of Manitoba, possibly due to tag issues. This loss highlights the threats faced by monarch butterflies, which are endangered in Canada primarily due to habitat destruction from human activities. The tagged butterflies, including MB26011 and Eddie, are providing valuable data for researchers to identify crucial stopover spots along their migration route for better conservation efforts.
Despite MB26011’s successful journey to Mexico, she still has more ground to cover before reaching the oyamel fir forests in central Mexico. There, she will rest, breed, and eventually die, continuing the cycle of migration for future generations. The data collected from the tagged butterflies will contribute to the protection of their habitats and migration pathways, ensuring the survival of these iconic insects.