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Probably not....Here's a refreshing 60 min interview with Andy Davis, a leading reseacher In monarch physiology & ecology.https://extension.illinois.edu/podca...is-goodgrowing. ....Refreshing because it's good to hear a scienist who maintains high ethical standards and does not pander to the popular press with "sellable" pseudoscience.
Quick summary-- only the migrating population of monarchs reaching Mexico is diminishing. N Am populations are stable for many decades....Planting store bought Milk Weed (usually non-native) impedes migratory urge and is spreading parasitic disease....Captive raised monarchs are weakening the gene pool....Our popular efforts to help the mo arch are counter-productive.
He gives a good take on the web of life- only 5% of monarch caterpillars reach adulthood. The ecological "purpose" of monarchs is to be food for other species, manly birds.
Common milkweed ( Asclepias syriaca) has pink/purplish flowers and is native to the northern & eastern states as is A.tuberosa (orange flowers)-- often sold as "butterfly weed", also native to the SW. Those are recommended as good for Monarch habitat....but A. curassavica (tropical milkweed, orange flowers) is not encouraged https://www.xerces.org/blog/tropical...%20on%20leaves.
The ecological "purpose" of monarchs is to be food for other species, manly birds.
If this is what this guy is saying, you might want to consider ignoring him.
1. Nothing in nature has a "purpose" except to perpetuate the species.
2. Monarch butterflies are inedible to birds. Hell, I learned that when I was a kid. If this guy is claiming something that even a lot of kids know to be untrue, then seriously, ignore him.
You should have to realize that the bushy black body, antennae and bright orange & black winged thing is the adult, reproductive form of the insect we call "Monarch," but most of its life is spent in it's larval form, the caterpillar.....and as the guy said, only 5% of them make it to adulthood, the 95% mostly becoming food for birds.
The use of quotation marks around a term implies the term is used figuratively....When you come right down to it, nothing has a purpose, only the way it fits into the scheme of things. In the biological world, when a species goes extinct, it doesn't take it's niche with it. Something else will quickly fill in the void. MotherNature doesn't care when a species is lost, much less an individual.
To expand on his point about the N Am monarch population not being in any trouble-- While the number of individuals making it to Mexico may be dwindling and well publicized n the popular press, enough still make it back from there each spring to keep population numbers stable here. That can continue as long as habitat availability remains above some critical amount.....My property, for instance, has several colonies of common milkweeds, probably 2 - 300 plants, and you can hardly go out and not see at least one monarch in any field of view all summer, yet it's very difficult to spot a caterpillar on a leaf, or even very much in the way of eaten areas on leaves-- more than enough fhood for the population to expand up to it's carrying capacity....as opposed to reports by suburbanites who see their 1 or 2 plants completely devoured.
Both the larval form and the adult butterfly are toxic to birds. The toxin consumed through the milkweed during the larval stage remains in the insect through adulthood.
There are veritable books and decades, if not a century or more, of research done on all the different butterflies who mimic the Monarch butterfly's coloring and patterns. The reason they mimic it is to fool birds into thinking they, too, are toxic like the Monarchs. Again, this is stuff I learned when I was a kid and if anybody is telling you that birds eat Monarch butterflies you should immediately cease reading anything that person says, because they are simply an ignorant fool.
Both the larval form and the adult butterfly are toxic to birds. The toxin consumed through the milkweed during the larval stage remains in the insect through adulthood.
There are veritable books and decades, if not a century or more, of research done on all the different butterflies who mimic the Monarch butterfly's coloring and patterns. The reason they mimic it is to fool birds into thinking they, too, are toxic like the Monarchs. Again, this is stuff I learned when I was a kid and if anybody is telling you that birds eat Monarch butterflies you should immediately cease reading anything that person says, because they are simply an ignorant fool.
Not all birds are affected. Some can eat them with impunity.
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