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Saturday, September 20, 1997

Butterfly migration being studied

AUSTIN (AP) - Riding the winds of an expected cold front this weekend, millions of Monarch butterflies are headed for Texas.

Some of the butterflies bear tiny tags indicating where they came from, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said Friday that Texans can help in a national effort to solve the mysteries of the migration.

Finding tagged Monarchs, tagging more and keeping track of their numbers and locations is helping researchers understand more about the phenomenon, officials said.

"We know that tens of millions arrive at the central Mexican overwintering sites in late October and early November," said Bill Calvert, an entomologist who's leading the study being fund by the Parks and Wildlife Department and a grant from the Margaret Cullinan Way Trust.

"We also know that their migratory journey originates in the central and eastern states and Canada, and that they fly in a southwesterly direction across the continental United States, converging on Texas before disappearing into Mexico.

"Still, the great mystery is how Monarchs coming from many different sites from Colorado to New England all find the same tiny overwintering areas in the high fir forests of central Mexico year after year after year," Calvert said.

This week, hundreds of thousands of Monarchs were passing through Kansas and Missouri. The insects usually enter Texas during the last week of September, along a 200-mile stretch centered on Wichita Falls. But the cold front expected this weekend may bring them early.

Scientists are trying to determine what environmental cues are used to guide the Monarchs, whether they use the sun as a compass or the earth's magnetic fields, whether features such as rivers and mountains play a role in guiding them.

The Parks and Wildlife Department said Texans can help answer the questions by collecting information on the migration and Monarch populations each year.

Keeping a Monarch migration calendar of their presence and abundance and tagging them all over the country helps researchers keep track of where they go.

The Parks and Wildlife Department said people can call the Texas Monarch Hotline for information and to report the tag numbers and locations of tagged butterflies found. Once the number is read and confirmed and the gender of the butterfly noted, it may be released to continue its journey to Mexico.

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The Texas Monarch Watch Hotline is 1-800-468-9719. Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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