March 27, 2001 Dear Students, Here are another 11 sightings for your migration map. As you can see, the leading edge of the migration is still moving through Texas. Last spring at this time, the first monarchs had already been seen in Arkansas! Date Town State Latitude Longitude 24 March Caldwell Texas 30.5 -96.7 23 March Waco Texas 31.6 -97.1 23 March Austin Texas 30.2 -97.7 23 March Klein Texas 30.0 -95.5 22 March Fort Worth Texas 32.8 -97.3 22 March Salineno Texas 26.5 -99.1 22 March Midland Texas 32.0 -102.1 21 March League City Texas 29.5 -95.1 21 March Austin Texas 30.2 -97.7 20 March Mission Texas 26.3 -98.4 20 March Beeville Texas 28.5 -97.8 Fort Worth, Texas "The most beautiful monarch came swooping down into our garden. It was one of the largest monarchs we have seen. Breathtaking!" Ms. Smith Austin, Texas "I am quite excited as today I saw my first Monarch! It was around 3:30 this afternoon in Austin, Texas. It was quite faded and appeared to be drinking nectar from a flower." Ms. Taylor Question of the Week #1: After Texas, into which U.S. states do you think the monarchs will fly next? (List the states in the same order that you think the monarchs will arrive.) Explain why you think the butterflies will travel to these states in this order. (Warning: You might be surprised when you find out where they go next!) Watch Out for Dangerous Predators! Did you know that each year, 15 % of the over-wintering monarchs are eaten by mice and birds? To monarch butterflies, mice and birds are dangerous. Monarchs are cold-blooded animals. This means that their body temperature rises and falls with the (ambient/surrounding) air temperature. This is different from warm blooded animals like people. We have a constant body temperature of 37 degrees Centigrade, except when we are sick. When the temperature fall below 5 degrees monarchs are paralyzed by the cold. This is when their warm blooded predators can capture them easily. Question of the Week #2: "If there were 150 million butterflies in the sanctuaries this winter, and 15 % were eaten by predators, how many butterflies did the predators eat?"