Winter migration of monarch butterflies to Mexico drops after one-year recovery

Experts say decline to coverage of only 7.19 acres of forest could be due to late winter storms last year that knocked down more than 100 acres of trees

Associated Press in Mexico City

Thursday 9 February 2017 18.16 GMT Last modified on Thursday 9 February 2017 19.25 GMT 

The number of monarch butterflies wintering in Mexico dropped by 27% this year, reversing last year’s recovery from historically low numbers, according to a study by government and independent experts released Thursday.

The experts say the decline could be due to late winter storms last year that blew down more than 100 acres (40 hectares) of forests where migrating monarch butterflies spend the winter in central Mexico.

Millions of monarchs make the 3,400-mile (5,500km) migration from the US and Canada each year, and they cluster tightly in the pine and fir forests west of Mexico City. They are counted not by individuals, but by the area they cover.

“The reduction in the area of forest they occupied this year is most probably due to the high mortality caused by storms and cold weather last year,” said Omar Vidal, the head of the Mexico office of the World Wildlife Fund. “It is a clear reminder for the three countries that they must step up actions to protect breeding, feeding and migratory habitat.”

Officials estimate the storms in March killed about 6.2m butterflies, almost 7.4% of the estimated 84m that wintered in Mexico, said Alejandro Del Mazo, Mexico’s commissioner for protected areas. The monarchs were preparing to fly back to the US and Canada at the time the storm hit.

While no butterfly lives to make the round trip, a reduction in the number making it out of the wintering grounds often results in a decline among those who return the next year.

The combination of rain, cold and high winds from the storms caused the loss of 133 acres (54 hectares) of pine and fir trees in the mountaintop wintering grounds, more than four times the amount lost to illegal logging. It was the biggest storm-related loss since the winter of 2009-10, when unusually heavy rainstorms and mudslides caused the destruction of 262 acres (106 hectares) of trees.

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Rare Birds 'Died' In Russian Leader's Latest Wildlife Mishap

Vladimir Putin's stunt with Siberian cranes this week was intended to display both his tough-guy image and his commitment toward saving endangered species.

But what it perhaps best highlighted was his curious knack for causing harm to rare animals.

Russian television on September 6 aired footage of the animal-loving president leading orphaned chick cranes in flight aboard an ultralight aircraft.

The exercise was meant to teach the critically endangered birds, who were raised in captivity, to follow the aircraft on their winter migration to Central Asia.

Putin's encounter with the chicks, however, was overshadowed by reports that two of them had died during preparations for his arrival.

A biology student at the nature reserve where the birds are raised, some 200 kilometers southeast of Moscow, revealed that one of the chicks had died after getting caught in the plane's propeller during training.

Maria Goncharova wrote on the Russian social-networking website vKontakte that several other birds were badly injured while being transported to the flight venue, on the Yamal Peninsula in the Russian Arctic.

"One more broke a beak and tore off its claws on crooked netting. Another one died due to faulty transportation...many badly cut themselves," she wrote. "And all this to fly once with Pu."

Goncharova deleted the comment several hours after posting it.

Continued:  http://www.rferl.org/content/claims-rare-cranes-died-during-putin-stunt/24701513.html