Your Sightings! >>
Today's Report Includes:
- The
Migration:
Maps, Questions, Highlights
- Answers
from the Expert:
Dr. Karen Oberhauser
- Conservation News: Dr. Brower's Research Just Published
- Other
News:
How
Many Eggs Can a Monarch Lay?
Answers from the Expert >>
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Distribution Map >> |
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Real-time Map >> |
Map Questions >> |
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The migration froze in place this week. So did fresh spring flowers and tiny green leaves as freezing temperatures moved across much of the monarch's breeding range. This was not an ordinary spring cold snap. It was record-breaking cold. It even snowed in Texas! And the impact was greater because it followed a full month of unseasonably warm temperatures. Spring had advanced ahead of normal and many monarchs moved with it, following the flowers, the milkweed and the warmth.
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April 8th was one of the coldest nights. This map shows how low temperatures fell. Read on...>> |
Why don't monarchs cross the Rocky Mountains regularly? How do they find milkweed? Can butterflies hear sounds?
Monarch expert Dr. Karen Oberhauser needs no introduction to most of our readers. She is known among students, teachers, and her scientist-colleagues alike. Follow the link to this week's answers and learn more about monarchs at Karen's "Monarch Lab" website.
Answers from the Expert >>
Dr. Oberhauser at a monarch overwintering colony in Mexico.
Conservation News: Dr. Brower's Research Just Published >>
It's always said that monarch butterflies go to the same dozen wintering sites in Mexico every year. But how do scientists know? For the first time, two scientists flew over the overwintering region to verify from the air what had been seen on the ground for the past 30 years.
"Based on the observations on the ground, the prediction was that monarchs are always going to be in the same place. But I didn’t think that was true because there are a lot of places that look like they have the right habitat," explained Dr. Lincoln Brower.
Listen to Dr. Brower describe the research that he and his NASA colleague, Dan Slayback, just published. You can read the original scientific paper — and see if you can see butterflies from an airplane.
Read on...>>
How many eggs can one monarch butterfly lay? Check in with Ms. Monarch this week. You're sure to be surprised.
- How much longer will Ms. Monarch live? When will her first child be born and continue the journey north?
The monarch
migration is unique because it takes two generations to complete. Ms.
Monarch's life story gives us clues about when and where the next generation
will appear. >>
Ms. Monarch's Egg Laying Calendar
- Ask the Expert in the Classroom: Learning from Experts >>
- Reading Strategies: Reading With Experts: Navigating Difficult Passages >>
- Monarch Life Cycle: Resources for the Classroom >>
- Predicting: Predicting the Route of the Spring Migration >>
- Mapping—Key Lessons & Resources: Making, Reading and Interpreting Maps >>
- Monarchs for Kids (booklets, photos, videos) >>
The Next Monarch Migration Update Will Be Posted on April 20, 2007.
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