Martha Williams from US Fish and Wildlife Service made a big-time announcement about monarch butterflies this tuesday: the black-and-orange insects need federal protection cause their numbers are getting super-low
The well-known butterflies which fly thousands of miles across north america each year‚ have been having a rough-time lately. Since the early-80s (when hair was big and music was on cassettes) these flying beauties lost most of their family:
- Eastern group dropped by 80 percent
- Western group lost 95 percent of its crew
- Scientists say western monarchs might be gone by 2080
The iconic monarch butterfly is cherished across North America‚ captivating children and adults throughout its fascinating lifecycle; despite its fragility‚ it is remarkably resilient
The problems started cause humans kept building stuff and farming with lots of chemicals which messed up the butterflies homes. Climate stuff didnt help either - its been making things worse for these little guys
Now‚ the agency wants to mark 4‚395 acres in sunny california as special monarch spots. Theyʼre giving everyone till 03/12/25 to share what they think about making monarchs a threatened species (which means you cant hurt them without special permission)
The endangered species act - which helped save americas favorite bird the bald eagle back in the day - might be these butterflies last hope. Even though experts knew monarchs needed help about 4 years ago they had to wait in line while other animals got helped first