Monarch butterflies drop ominously in Mexico
Posted: Mar 13, 2013 7:44 PM PDT Updated: Mar 13, 2013 11:18 PM PDT
By MARK STEVENSON
Associated Press
MEXICO CITY (AP) - The number of Monarch butterflies making it to their winter refuge in Mexico dropped 59% this year, falling to the lowest level since comparable record-keeping began 20 years ago, scientists reported Wednesday.
It was the third straight year of declines for the orange and black butterflies that migrate from the United States and Canada to spend the winter sheltering in mountaintop fir forests in central Mexico. Six of the last seven years have shown drops, and there are now only one-fifteenth as many butterflies as there were in 1997...
