After seeing a decline in monarch butterfly population numbers for decades, new figures in a recent WWF survey from Mexico bring a dash of hope for the species.
In the survey, ten colonies were counted over different locations, including the State of Mexico, the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere reserve and Michoacan. Findings revealed that in comparison to 2020, population levels had increased by 35%.
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This is very good news, considering the previous downward trend in numbers, which has been attributed to factors such as climate change and illegal logging. However, conservation efforts are still ongoing to try and help this beautiful butterfly species.
Conservation efforts include communities coming together and planting more native plants, as well as rebuilding the species natural habitat. There is also the Monarch and Pollinator Highway Act which aims to support roadside pollination through planting and seeding native flowers and grasses, alongside monarch host plants.
In addition to the population increase found in the survey, Monarch butterfly numbers last year had also increased in the state of California in the United States. Experts suggested that this was largely down to the fact that breeding conditions had become more favourable due to temperature changes.