CLOSURE: Central Library will be closed Tuesday, July 21, through Saturday, July 25, while emergency repairs are made to the building’s cooling system. We expect to reopen Monday, July 27. Click for more details on holds, program schedules, and returns during the closure. 

Notice of Public Meeting: Kalamazoo Public Library Board of Trustees | July 27 | 5:30 pm | Central Library/Van Deusen Room. The packet of information for the meeting can be found on the library’s website. 

Book

The monarch : saving our most-loved butterfly

Call Number

  • J 595.789 BAUM (CEN, WSQ)

Browse similar titles by call number

Edition

First edition.

Publication Information

Pittsburgh, PA : St. Lynn's Press, 2017.

Physical Description

159 pages : color illustrations ; 21 cm

Summary

Every fall, spectacular orange and black clouds of monarch butterflies fill the skies as they migrate from across North America to Central Mexico. West Coast populations make a similar though much shorter trip to coastal California. The National Wildlife Federation calls the monarch migration "one of the greatest natural phenomena in the insect world." Not long ago, monarchs numbered in the billions, but in the last 20 years their population has dropped by 90%, due to habitat loss from pesticides, modern farming practices, urban development and other human activity. An estimated one million acres of habitat are lost each year. But today, an army of citizen scientists, students and gardeners is engaged in restoring this beloved pollinator's habitat -- the wildflowers and milkweed and feeding corridors -- so that one of nature's most beautiful creatures will still be there for generations to come. And it starts in our own backyards.

Contents

  • A story
  • Danaus plexippus
  • Monarch mimics
  • The miraculous migration
  • Laying out the challenges
  • We can lend a hand
  • What's so special about milkweed?
  • Predators at large
  • Are monarchs in danger of extinction
  • Ways to help the monarch: projects for everyone
  • Epilogue: the rest of the story.

Subjects