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PHOTOGRAPHS BY JAIME ROJO
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Who doesn’t love monarch butterflies? And who hasn’t been touched by decades of dire stories of population loss among several of the colorful insects?
A new study, using citizen scientist data, says numbers for North American monarch butterflies actually have been on the rise overall. The study, which drew on observations from more than 450 sites across 25 years, comes as the U.S. considers including monarchs as endangered species.
The study authors acknowledge their findings are controversial, particularly among groups that have raised money to protect the insect. “The monarch is the Bambi of the insect world. When people hear that the monarch is in trouble, they open up their purses,” says Andy Davis, an animal ecologist at the University of Georgia.
Read the full article here.
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