June 25, 2018, Washington State University
After five years and nearly
15,000 tagged butterflies, scientists now have proof that Monarch butterflies
migrate from the Pacific Northwest to California in late summer and fall, a
journey averaging nearly 500 miles.
Most of the tagging was done
by citizen scientists and
inmates from the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. The prisoners are
carefully trained in raising, tagging, and releasing Monarchs.
The findings were recently
published in the Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society. WSU entomology
professor David James spearheaded the project, which took a massive amount of
time and coordination to put together, ultimately involving hundreds of
volunteers. The research was unfunded, making the volunteers indispensable.
Long distance travelers
"On average, these butterflies averaged
almost 40 miles of travel each day," James said. "That's pretty
remarkable for such a small creature."
Though scientists don't know
exactly how the butterflies travel that far, they suspect the Monarchs may ride
warm air currents called thermals a few thousand feet up in the air, then use
the strong upper-air currents to navigate, James said.
The paper covered the initial
five years of the project, from 2012 to 2016. Participants tagged and released
13,778 Monarchs that were raised in captivity and tagged 875 wild Monarchs.
More than one-third of the raised Monarchs were reared by inmates at Walla
Walla, James said.
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