Our Puffin Friend, Jane Kim, the creator of Ink Dwell info@inkdwell.com is thinking BIG. Monarch butterflies are making their winter migrations to Mexico and California and from San Francisco and Ink Dwell has memorialized this journey by painting the world’s largest monarch! A few weeks ago they completed this 50-foot tall butterfly as part of a five-month effort by our 12-woman team to transform this entire 12-story apartment tower at 455 Hyde Street into a monument to the butterflies of San Francisco.
“The number of monarch butterflies wintering in Mexican forests has plunged to the lowest levels since monitoring began more than 20 years ago, according to a study released by World Wildlife Fund, Mexico’s Environment Department and the Natural Protected Areas Commission today. The report has led experts to caution that the insect’s annual migration to Canada is in danger of disappearing.”Hopefully the possibility of the end of the monarch migration is a wake-up call for Canadians” says Rachel Plotkin, science manager at the David Suzuki Foundation. “While the numbers are alarming, one of the most important remedies is simple: Monarchs need milkweed to survive, and Canadians need to do their part by planting more milkweed and pollinator-friendly gardens this spring.”
The report confirms that monarch populations overwintering in Mexico are at an all time low. Last year an estimated 60-million monarchs spent the winter in specific mountain forests — the lowest since monitoring began in 1993. This year estimates are that the number has again plunged by almost half.
The main threat to monarchs is the eradication of milkweed plants throughout the monarch’s migratory path, especially the U.S. Midwest. Milkweed is the host plant for monarchs (mothers lay their eggs on the underside of milkweed leaves) and the monarch caterpillar’s main source of food is milkweed…”(David Suzuki Foundation- WHERE HAVE ALL THE MONARCHS GONE?)
