{"id":135565,"date":"2024-02-08T17:15:07","date_gmt":"2024-02-08T17:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/?p=135565"},"modified":"2024-02-15T16:28:22","modified_gmt":"2024-02-15T16:28:22","slug":"monarch-butterflies-wintering-in-mexico-drop-to-second-lowest-level-ever-recorded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/monarch-butterflies-wintering-in-mexico-drop-to-second-lowest-level-ever-recorded\/","title":{"rendered":"Monarch Butterflies Wintering in Mexico Drop to Second-Lowest Level Ever Recorded"},"content":{"rendered":"
February 8, 2024 | Source: EcoWatch<\/a> | by Paige Bennett<\/p>\n<\/div> The estimated number of monarch butterflies migrating to Mexico for winter has reached its second-lowest level ever for the 2023 to 2024 overwintering season. The estimate, based on the size of the butterflies\u2019 hibernating forest area, has dropped by about 59% from the previous year, according to officials.<\/p>\n Experts are pointing to extensive heat and drought as well as climate change for the major decline.<\/p>\n Recent years have seen some hope for the migrating monarch butterflies, with a\u00a035%<\/a>\u00a0increase in the number of butterflies observed overwintering in Mexico during the 2021 to 2022 season compared to the previous year.<\/p>\n But\u00a0monarch butterflies face three primary threats<\/a>, including habitat loss for their breeding and overwintering; the use of pesticides, which can be toxic to the butterflies or can kill their food source, milkweed; and climate change, which can shift their migratory patterns. By the 2022 to 2023 overwintering season, World Wildlife Fund reported a\u00a022% drop<\/a>\u00a0in the amount of overwintering monarch butterflies in Mexico.<\/p>\n<\/div>