[ExI] Most Monarch butterflies in 20 years

[MB]

Brent Allsop via extropy-chat wrote:

> And back to Monarch Butterflies.  I grew up having so much fun looking for
> Monarch caterpillars eating milkweed in a field across the street from us.
> We would feed them, watch them form the chrysalis, then emerge and fly away.
> I haven't seen any of those for a LONG time.  I hope they start coming back
> up here in Utah, also.
> 

A number of years ago I planted a milkweed plant in hopes of feeding 
Monarchs.  A few years later, sure enough, I had Monarch babies munching 
away. They ate my plant down to bare stalks... :(  I gathered them all 
up and took them to the local Nature Center in hopes that there would be 
more milkweed there for them to finish up on.  Nature Center asked what 
variety of milkweed, and fortunately I did have a tag and knew what the 
plant was. They took in my little caterpillars and said Thanks and that 
they'd put them on that variety.

I hope they made it.  I never got to see them form the chrysalis.

My milkweed did not come back the next year, but the following year I 
found one stalk coming up.  I'm hopeful, but plainly one plant is not 
sufficient!

Regards,
MB