Butterflies, Monarch butterflies and Mexico by Lucia Mitrova

Looks like everybody loves butterflies. Kids love butterflies, women love butterflies (especially Mariah Carey), there are people who have huge collections of this beautiful nectar-loving insects. Maybe it is because its fairy tale like life cycle, when from the ugly (or weird at least) caterpillar through the pupal stage an actual butterfly is born. It is the same with ugly duckling to beautiful swan thing, only the change is more fundamental. Butterflies (Rhopalocera) can be different (big, small, colorful or just plain-color)and they are many kinds. There's three superfamilies, Hedyloidea, Hesperioidea and Papilionoidea. Superfamilies have their families, for example Family Papilionidae, Family Pieridae, Family Lycaenidae, Family Riodinidae, Family Nymphalidae. One of the most famous of its kind is probably Monarch butterfly, well at least in North America. This fella is quite big with wingspan of 8.5 to 12.5 cm and has orange and black pattern painted on its wings. Another thing typical for these kind of butterfly is their long annual migration. They are even able to make transatlantic crossing. And they can manage that in not that long time, because they are limited by their life length from twenty to eighty weeks, depending on condition, food, etc.. They are so popular amongst people, that Mexico has a fund to promote Monarch butterfly. "It is possible to take care of the environment and at the same time promote development," the president Felipe Calderon said. This fund should help the tourisms and also the butterflies themselves. People are supposed to know more about illegal logging which puts Monarchs into danger. "By even taking a single tree out near the butterfly colony you allow heat to escape from the forest and that then jeopardizes the butterflies," said Lincoln Brower, professor emeritus of zoology at the University of Florida and at Sweet Briar College in Sweet Briar, Va. "We're gaining ground in the fight against illegal logging," Calderon said.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071126/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/mexico_butterflies;_ylt=AskWXNu0GDR8lsSdae.FlHms0NUE

by Lucia Mitrova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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