Our disappearing butterflies

(Photo: Getty Images)

This year may be one of the worst for the monarch butterfly, experts are reporting.

Severe hailstorms in Mexico (one of the monarch’s winter homes) followed by 15 inches of rain has left the population decimated by up to 50 percent this year. Add to that the ongoing issue of habitat destruction, and the future of the monarch begins to look a little shaky.

Unlike most other insects in temperate climates, monarch butterflies cannot survive a long cold winter, according to MonarchWatch.org. Instead, they spend the winter in roosting spots. Monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains travel to small groves of trees along the California coast, while those east of the Rocky Mountains fly farther south to the forests high in the mountains of Mexico. Read the story