- January 8, 2025 - Insectarium : Mission Monarch
The migration of the monarch butterfly is one of the most impressive in the animal kingdom. Every fall, the monarchs in eastern Canada set off on a 4,500-kilometer journey to form gigantic colonies in the Mexican state of Michoacán’s mountainous oyamel fir forests. And it’s here that they spend the winter.
Fifty years ago, scientists described these grounds for the first time, although local populations were already aware of their existence. For people with a passion for monarchs, the destination of their beloved orange butterfly had been wrapped in a major mystery: namely, where did they spend the winter?
In January 1975, the Mexican-American couple Catalina Aguado Brugger and Kenneth Brugger located the monarchs’ wintering ground, on the Cerro Pelón mountain. They quickly informed a Canadian zoologist couple they were corresponding with: Norah and Fred Urquhart, who then visited the overwintering sites in order to document them. This milestone marked the beginning of an international scientific cooperation that has continued to document monarch populations year after year. In 1976, National Geographic magazine devoted a memorable cover story to the discovery.
Since then, monarch populations have suffered an alarming decline. Their numbers have dropped by more than 90 percent, for several reasons: logging, a reduction in the abundance of milkweed, and climate change. As a museum institution, we want to call attention to the 50 years of documenting the wintering sites of this emblematic species,
Spotlight on the monarch at the Insectarium
Which is why we also want to highlight what we’re doing to contribute to its conservation – and so the monarch will be in the spotlight at the Insectarium de Montréal from January 16 to 19, 2025! During the event Siesta monarch – 50 years of overwintering, you’ll get to attend activities that uncover the insect’s life cycle, and meet members of the team working on its conservation.
In 2016, to affirm its commitment to preserving this endangered butterfly, the Insectarium launched the community science program Mission Monarch. The program maps the monarch butterfly’s breeding habitats with the aim of providing data that can inform or guide decision-makers in implementing measures needed for its conservation. We invite you to discover how you can get involved thanks to our brand-new illustrated tutorial.
Since it was introduced, Mission Monarch has mobilized more than 8,000 participants, who have submitted upwards of 14,000 observations consisting of 570,000 milkweeds, 25,000 monarch eggs, 29,000 caterpillars, 5,000 chrysalises and 25,000 butterflies in more than 9,000 locations. We’re extremely grateful for the participation of the Mission Monarch community, and are so thankful for the impressive database that could never have been conceived without you. In addition, each year we take part in coordinating the International Monarch Monitoring Blitz with the Commission for Environmental Cooperation and several partners across North America. That continent-wide mobilization campaign lets us have a better understanding of monarch populations.
In closing, we encourage you to create habitats favorable to the butterfly, to share your observations on monarchs and milkweed and to talk about Mission Monarch in your networks. And if you like, you can also make a donation to our program via the Fondation Espace pour la vie. In protecting the monarch’s habitat you’re protecting all the species that coexist there and fighting against threats to biodiversity (habitat loss and degradation, for example).
Siesta monarch – 50 years of overwintering: a must-see event at the Insectarium de Montréal from January 16 to 19, 2025!
