Student Monarch Page

At the closing of our Monarch Butterfly Unit, students get to identify and implement ideas of how to improve the declining monarch population.  One group decided to create an informational blog page.

Here it is!

What is killing the Monarchs?

Learning how migration patterns are interrupted

By Sohni Westbrook

Monarchs are beautiful and popular.  We used to have about 300,000,000.  Now there are only about 57,000,00.  That is loosing 243,000,000!  At first only some were dying, from weather and predators.  But now genetically modified organisms kill milkweed.  Crop dusters spray RoundUp all over GMO fields.  Milkweed is no longer found and butterfly larva have nothing to eat.

Diagrams and Maps

By Taylor Docka

Monarch Butterfly

Monarch Larva

Adult Milkweed

Monarch Migration Paths

Videos

Monarchs and Milkweed Video

What are genetically modified foods?

What Can You Do To help?

By Riley Bell

Monarchs are dying mostly because of milkweed patches being cut down for planting new crops like corn.  It also is because of Genetically Modified (GMO) foods that are being sprayed with RoundUp.  The RoundUp kills milkweed.  

You could do many things to help monarchs.  Ways you can help monarchs is that you can plant milkweed in your yard or donate money.  If monarchs die out, there will be one less pollinator pollinating and helping plants to produce more food.  What will you do to help save the monarchs?

Please visit monarchwatch.org for more information and ways to help.

Fun Facts

By Brie Beyah

• Monarch butterflies are poisonous
• Monarch eggs are able to camouflage into milkweed
• Monarchs are very fast.
• Some monarchs migrate 3,000 miles! 
• If you catch a monarch and use a microscope, you would see their wings have scales and instead of a mouth they have a proboscis.
• A proboscis is used for getting the nectar from flowers.  It is like a straw.