MEXICO: Monarch butterflies complete annual migration from Canada and arrive in Mexico

Millions of monarch butterflies arrived in Mexico on Saturday (November 19) from a 3000-mile journey that fascinates scientists. The bright orange and black butterflies make an annual pilgrimage from Canada to Mexico. Each year, tens of millions of monarchs arrive in Michoacan state to sit out the winter months in central Mexico's temperate fir forests before returning to Canada. Not one butterfly makes the round-trip journey, and the offspring of those who start it head instinctively for a place they have never been. Tourists also flocked to the area witness to the spectacle. "The volume, I mean just the millions of butterflies and the guide told us that-- and we saw it too: two cascades today which are bursts of flight-- and he said that to see one on twenty trips is average so we feel very fortunate," said Seattle visitor David Burkwell. "If they just let people know how wonderful it is, I think everybody would work to protect it, because it's fantastic," said Linda Woulds from Alaska. After leaving Mexico, it takes three or four generations of monarch butterflies to reach their summer grounds in Canada and northern areas of the United States. The last generation, which has a longer life span, then makes the journey south to Mexico for the winter. Mexico has set up several sanctuaries in the Angangueo forest to provide the butterflies' natural habitat.

ITN Source | November 25, 2005

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