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FINAL
Fall Migration News: November 3, 2006 |
Highlights
from the Migration Trail:
- It's
Official: The Monarchs are Arriving!
This
Week:
- Monarchs,
Dia de los Muertos, and Mexican Tradition
- Why
is This Place So Special for Monarchs?
For
Teachers:
- Final
Migration Rate Math
- Suggestions
for Assessment
- Teachers'
Guide
|
The
finish line!
|
Highlights
from the Migration Trail |
The
First Monarchs Have Arrived!
"¡Las
primeras mariposas han llegado!" announced Estela Romero
on Sunday, October 29th.
And
on Thursday she added, "Germàn Medina told me this
morning that at El Cerrito there must be now about 50 trees with
a fairly good number of butterflies, while in El Rosario there
must be about 30 trees with Monarchs (though fewer per tree).
So we can say that the monarchs have officially arrived!
|
They're
Home!
Angangueo, Michoacan (19 N, -100 W)
is couched in the mountains beside two of the largest monarch
sanctuaries. |
The
finish line!
This is the front entrance of the El Rosario Sanctuary,
east of Angangueo. |
Monarchs,
Dia de los Muertos, and Mexican Tradition |
Since
Pre-hispanic times, people in Mexico noted the monarch's arrival
at precisely the same time every fall. In fact, the name for the
monarch butterfly is the "harvester butterfly" in the
native language of the Purépecha
Indians.
As the people observed, the monarchs appear each fall during the
corn harvest. The Mexican holiday of Dia de los Muertos
also occurs at this time. Many people in the region believe the
monarchs are the souls of their ancestors, returning for their
annual visit.
"On
the First of November we remember the souls of our dead children
and, on November 2nd, the souls of our adults," explained
Estela. "It is also then that the Monarchs traditionally
begin to arrive."
- Estela's
Day of the Dead report and pictures from her daughter's school
(English/Spanish)
|
|
|
This
Week: Why
is This Place So Special for Monarchs? |
Monarchs
travel to a very small region in Mexico from across eastern North
America. You
can see it on the map below. The
region is only about 70 miles wide. Within the region, only
12 places have the habitat the butterflies need to survive. |
Where
do you think the 12 overwintering
sites are?
Take
a look! >>
|
Migration
Rate Math: The Migration Continues |
As
we close the curtain on this fall’s migration, monarchs
are still migrating to Mexico. They are streaming southward from
points far and wide, but most are now in northern Mexico. This
season's final collection of quantifiable
monarch observations
looks at migration past a single point on the Texas Gulf Coast.
The
observations below were made by Mr.
and Mrs. Aschen. What can you learn?
|
See
You in February When Journey North Begins! |
Thank
you for helping track the migration to Mexico. We'll pick up the
story again in February. How the monarchs manage to survive 5
winter months in Mexico is as amazing as the monarch migration
itself. Journey North publishes weekly updates every winter while
the monarchs are in Mexico. The updates will begin on February
2nd and lead up to the spring migration in March. Join us for
a "guided tour" of the monarch's winter habitat. Then
help track the monarch's journey north next spring.
-
Watch for the first weekly update from the monarch sanctuaries
on Friday, February 2, 2007.
|
Teachers'
Guide |
The
suggestions in this guide are provided to help teachers integrate
Journey North's real-time program in the classroom.
|
This
is the FINAL Fall Monarch Butterfly Migration Update. See you in February!
Copyright
2006 Journey North. All Rights Reserved.
Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our
feedback form
|