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Wing and a prayer: Monarch butterflies change course to avoid Patricia

Published 2015-10-26, 10:20 p/m
© Reuters. Wing and a prayer: Monarch butterflies change course to avoid Patricia

MEXICO CITY, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Embattled monarch
butterflies faced an extra hurdle in this year's migration;
torrential winds and rain cause by Hurricane Patricia which
crashed into Mexico on Friday.
As a result, the monarchs, unique among butterflies for the
regularity and breadth of their annual migration, diverted from
their usual route and found refuge in ravines in Nuevo Leon
state in northern Mexico, conservation authorities said on
Monday.
Patricia, one of the most powerful storms on record packing
165 mph (266 kph) winds, carved a swathe through relatively
remote parts of rural Mexico last week.
"When they started to feel the humidity from the west, the
push from the Pacific with the wind and humidity from Patricia,
the Monarchs moved their route east," Gloria Tavera, a regional
head of the National Commission for Natural Protected Areas
(Conanp), said.
Tavera added that the butterflies, which migrate thousands
of miles from Mexico, across the United States to Canada, and
then back again, will take up their usual route again when the
climate returns to normal.
Monarch populations are estimated to have fallen by as much
as 80 percent in the past two decades because of destruction of
milkweed plants they depend on to lay their eggs and nourish
hatching larvae, according to the Xerces Society for
Invertebrate Conservation.

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