Washington (AFP) – The monarch butterfly was one step closer to extinction Thursday, with scientists putting the iconic orange and black insect on the endangered list because of its rapidly dwindling numbers.
“It’s just a devastating dip,” said Stuart Beam, an ecologist at Duke University who was not involved in the new list. “This is one of the most famous butterflies in the world.”
The International Union for Conservation of Nature has for the first time added the migratory monarch butterfly to its “red list” of endangered species and classified it as “threatened with extinction” – two steps from its extinction.
The group estimates that the number of monarch butterflies in North America has declined by between 22% and 72% over 10 years, depending on the method of measurement.
“What worries us is the rate of decline,” said Nick Haddad, a conservation biologist at Michigan State University. “It’s very easy to imagine how quickly this butterfly could become more vulnerable.”
Haddad, who was not directly involved with the list, estimates that the number of monarch butterflies he studies in the eastern United States has declined by between 85% and 95% since the 1990s.
In North America, millions of monarch butterflies make the longest migration of any insect species known to science.
After wintering in the mountains of central Mexico, butterflies migrate north, breeding multiple generations along the way for thousands of miles. The offspring arriving in southern Canada begin their journey back to Mexico at the end of summer.
“It’s a real sight and so awe-inspiring,” said Anna Walker, a conservation biologist with the New Mexico Biopark Society, who was involved in defining the new list.
A smaller group spends the winter in coastal California, then spreads in the spring and summer across several states west of the Rocky Mountains. This population experienced a more severe decline than the Eastern Kings, although there was a slight rebound last winter.
Emma Bilton of the nonprofit Xerces Society, which monitors western butterflies, said the butterflies are endangered due to habitat loss and increased use of herbicides and pesticides for agriculture, as well as climate change.
“There are things people can do to help,” she said, including planting milkweed, a plant the caterpillars depend on.
The non-migratory monarch butterflies of Central and South America are not classified as critically endangered.
The United States is not included in the list Monarch butterflies are under the Endangered Species Act, but many environmental groups believe they should be included.
The International Federation also announced new estimates of the world’s tiger population, which is 40% higher than the most recent estimate for 2015.
The new numbers, which range from 3,726 to 5,578 wild tigers worldwide, reflect better ways of counting tigers, and possibly an increase in their overall numbers, said Del Mikel, tiger program coordinator for the nonprofit Wildlife Conservation Society.
In the past decade, the tiger population has increased in Nepal, northern China and possibly India, while tigers have completely disappeared from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, Meckel said. It is still classified as endangered.
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