March 19, 2002 Dear Students, Hello from your friends in the Unites States and Canada. Thank you for taking care of the monarch butterflies this winter! Even though you are still seeing monarchs there, the first few butterflies have already arrived in Texas. Here are the data for your migration map: Date City State Latitude Longitude 8 March Arroyo Seco Querataro 21 -99 15 March Saltillo Coahuila 25 -101 8 March San Antonio Texas 29 -99 12 March Mission Texas 26 -98 14 March Austin Texas 30 -98 15 March Bryan Texas 31 -96 Students in over 7,500 schools are tracking the monarch migration this spring. As these students see their first butterfly, we will gather the information. Each week we will send a FAX to Angangueo you so you can track the migration. Here are the dates: 19 March, 9 April, 23 April, 7 May, 21 May, y 4 June (* There will be no FAX from 19 of March until 9 de April because schools will be closed for Easter vacation.) Using the migration data, each week you can: Count the number of Mexican States, U.S. States and Canadian Provinces where the monarchs have arrived. Measure how far from your home the farthest butterfly has flown. How far did the monarch in San Antonio, Texas fly? It usually takes until June for the monarch butterflies to spread across their entire range, as far north as southern Canada. But the butterflies that spent the winter in Mexico will not go that far. As the females travel north, they will lay eggs for the next generation and then they will die. A single monarch butterfly can lay 300 or more eggs! The monarchs that continue the migration to the northern U.S. and Canada will be the children and grandchildren of the butterflies you saw in Mexico.