SIOUX FALLS, SD (KELO.com) — The migratory monarch butterfly made an unwanted list… endangered species. The butterfly, which summers throughout the United States and Canada before migrating to Mexico and California in the fall, has declined in numbers up to 72% in the past decade according to the IUCN.
Logging and deforestation has destroyed areas where the butterflies’ winter. Pesticides and herbicides kill butterflies and milkweed, the host plant that the larvae of the monarch butterfly feeds from.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature says concern remains as to whether enough butterflies survive to maintain the populations and prevent extinction.
