Life on earth will be so much poorer when the monarch butterflies are gone, when the polar bears are gone, when the oceans are dead. Exterminated by humankind, nature’s biggest mistake.

Monarch butterflies drop, migration may disappear | ABQJournal Online

After steep and steady declines in the previous three years, the black-and-orange butterflies now cover only 1.65 acres in the pine and fir forests west of Mexico City, compared to 2.93 acres last year, said the report released by the World Wildlife Fund, Mexico’s Environment Department and the Natural Protected Areas Commission. They covered more than 44.5 acres at their recorded peak in 1996.

Because the butterflies clump together by the thousands in trees, they are counted by the area they cover.

Monarch butterflies drop, migration may disappear | ABQJournal Online