Fun Monarch Butterfly Facts and How You Can Save Them

The monarch butterfly's migration from Canada or the U.S. to Mexico is considered one of the most spectacular natural phenomenas in the world! Monarch butterflies fly 1200-1800 miles (1900 - 2900 km) round trip! Pretty impressive for such a small insect!

Most monarch butterflies only have a lifespan of 4-5 weeks, but every fall a special generation of migrating monarch butterflies is born and they live for 7 to 8 months! In human terms, that's equivalent to your children living to be 525 years old.

Why Monarch Butterflies Need Our Help
The monarch butterfly migration is recognized as an endangered biological phenomena. Habitat preservation, especially the wintering habitat in Mexico is key to the survival of the monarch butterfly and is considered the first priority in world butterfly conservation. Sources/more information: Monarch Butterflies: The Monarch of Migration

Help Save Monarch Butterflies

• Volunteer to count butterflies for the North American Butterfly Association


• Plant a garden that's butterfly friendly (tips on how to do this)


• Adopt a monarch butterfly through the World Wildlife Fund


• Become a member of the North American Butterfly Association


• If you are a teacher enroll your class in MonarchLIVE in which you and your class will follow the monarch butterflies migration

Monarch butterfly photo courtesy of: Creativity+TimothyK Hamilton's Photostream

Bee Facts and How You Can Save Them

Yes, I know that technically a bee is an insect not an animal but in this blog we don't discriminate against any creature needing help. But first, a fun fact about bees.

Fun Bee Facts

Despite their small size, bees have a lot going on. Did you know that bees can communicate over 10,000 messages to other bees? How do they do this? Why by dancing of course in what is called a "waggle dance." The "waggle dance" is used to communicate the location of nectar or pollen. The larger the quantity, the more exaggerated the dance is.(1). Can you imagine trying to communicate over 10,000 messages by dancing? I'm guessing that bees are in good shape! See Bee communication and dancing for more info. Enter the truly wild Amazon Animal Store for even more fun animal facts.

Why Bees Need Our Help

Bees are disappearing from around the world. It is estimated that the bee population has decreased by as much as 60 - 70% in the U.S. Parts of Europe are also seeing substantial decreases. Not only is this bad for bees, but it's bad for us since Albert Einsten once predicted that humans would only last 4 years without bees. Bees pollinate all of our major food sources and we depend on them more than we know. Why are the bees disappearing? Radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing them from finding their way back to their hives. Source: Save the Bees and the Human Race. Another issue is that at the end of honey season, it is considered too costly for farmers to winterize hives so many farmers burn them and start fresh next season. Source: Drawing the Line: Science and the Case for Animal Rights

Help Save Bees

You can help bees in two ways. First sign a petition at Save the Bees and the Human Race. It takes only a few seconds and urges government to further investigate and find a solution to the cellular phone/bee problem. Two, buy honey from farmers who don't kill the bees at the end of each season. Ask before you buy and only support those farmers who don't kill the bees.

Also join Save the Honeybees group on Facebook to show your support for bees.

Thank you for taking action to help save bees!

Sources:

1) "Dancing Under a Polarized Sky"; available at http://www.polarization.com/bees/bees.html

2) CJ. "Save the Bees and the Human Race"; available at http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-the-bees-and-the-human-race.html

3) Steven M. Wise, Drawing the Line: Science and the Case for Animal Rights (Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus, 2002)