Plight of the Monarch

Jessica Selby
Posted 6/12/15

They flutter in abundance inside the greenhouse at Roger Williams Park.

Their beautiful, but delicate orange and black wings stand out vibrantly among the colorful landscape. One rests its wings …

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Plight of the Monarch

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They flutter in abundance inside the greenhouse at Roger Williams Park.

Their beautiful, but delicate orange and black wings stand out vibrantly among the colorful landscape. One rests its wings on the petals of the purple cone flower as it drinks the nectar from the blossom.

It all seems so natural, but then you walk back outside and realize that the all too common occurrence of seeing a butterfly in nature is not actually so common anymore.

Ask yourself…when is the last time you actually saw a monarch butterfly in the wild. Statistics provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service indicate that since 1990, about 970 million of these amazing creatures have vanished making it less and less likely to see them in a natural setting; like your own back yard.

Plant a butterfly bush, black eyed Susan’s, marigolds or even sunflowers; and while these beautiful wildflowers have been known to attract the monarch in the past, chances are, it’s just not enough anymore, according to Lou Perrotti, director of conservation programs at Roger Williams Zoo.

But why you ask…Perrotti said it’s because the monarch butterfly is on the brink of extinction.

“Everybody is watching this now,” Perrotti said. “True naturalists and environmentalists; they are all talking about it, just Google it and hundreds of things pop up. The general public might take it for granted, but that’s one of the reasons that we have this exhibit, to bring awareness to what’s happening to the monarch.”

Currently Roger Williams Zoo is running an exhibit, Butterflies in Bloom, inside the greenhouse, just outside “The Big Backyard” tree house. Inside, not only can people walk among a tranquil and serene, beautifully landscaped tropical setting; they can also get up and close with the monarch butterfly as well as a handful or so other butterfly species.

These butterflies are flourishing, but in the wild, Perrotti said, it’s a much different scenario. According to Perrotti, there are several contributing factors pushing the monarch toward extinction. The number one threat, he said, is the near-eradication of milkweed, the monarch caterpillar’s primary lifeline and only food source. Everything that the caterpillar does to survive, eat, lay its eggs, build its cocoon and dry itself, are all done on the milkweed plant.

Today, however, pesticides that are being used on crops near where the milkweed grows are killing the natural growing plant, eradicating the caterpillar’s lifeline, Perrotti said. The conversion of natural habitat areas to genetically engineered corn fields for the production of ethanol for biofuel and climate change is the other two primary threats to the survival of the monarch butterfly, according to information on the threat to the monarch.

“If we don’t start paying attention, we might lose the monarch butterfly forever,” Perrotti said. “The effects that something like that would have on the ecosystem, we just don’t know until it happens, but with the loss of any species there are ramifications.

“Our goal here at the zoo, with this exhibit, is the teach people just a little bit more about these creatures and all animal species because educated people tend to appreciate nature a little more,” he said.

Perrotti said that Roger Williams Zoo is currently working on a restoration project in Concord New Hampshire to save the monarch butterfly. Locally, however, he said, there are many things that people can do.

The simplest and most highly recommended task for people to do locally to try to save the monarch butterfly is to plant milkweed. So when you are perusing your local greenhouse looking for some ornamentals for your yard for this summer, consider consulting with one of the local wild plant societies to get some milkweed. Rhodynative, Perrotti said, is a good source.

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  • PaulCherubini

    Just a couple years ago I saw these swarms of monarch butterflies in Rhode Island: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Zzkcw6phrI So it's biologically unjustified to use an alarmist term like "plight" to describe the status of the monarch butterfliy. 2015 is shaping up to be another banner summer for monarch butterflies across the nation including Rhode Island.

    Friday, June 12, 2015 Report this