The Naturalist

From the program: The Naturalist

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First Aired - 10/19/2009 11:00AM

On the latest episode of The Naturalist, Bernie Wides is joined by friend and butterfly expert Carol A. Butler. They talk about the monarch butterfly and its amazing migration.

Whole Episode:

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The Naturalist Introduction: Butterflies (14:03)

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Tags:

Carol A. Butler, butterflies, monarch butterflies, butterfly conservatory will be open until May, Carol writes nature books, Hazel Davies, the monarch butterflies are on their way to Mexico, moths, we know most of the butterfly species, 90 percent of moths have not been identified, lepidoptere, Urquhart, tagging butterflies to figure out the flight path and migration roots, Central Mexico, they travel a certain distance and then reproduce to continue the journey, The American Museum Of Natural History, micro, diapauses,

The Migration Of The Monarch Butterfly (11:06)

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turkey vultures, thermals are warm air currents, flight simulator, circadian rhythm, butterflies produce heat by flapping their wings, butterflies need warm weather to be active, when it's cold they huddle up for heat by the trees, a monarch from Canada flying to Mexico would be the equivalent of a tall person going around the equator 11 times, the antenna has some function for navigation, butterflies are sensitive to ultraviolet light, most of these butterflies funnel through Texas, they are ectothermic,

Milkweed & Toxicity (12:40)

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Tags:

the milkweed is the most important plant for monarch butterflies, females lay their eggs on milkweed because the babies eat it, the purpose of toxicity is to keep other animals away, birds won't eat the entire butterfly, book format, question and answer, Do Butterflies Bite?, they only drink nectar from flowers, some moths don't eat at all, they live off their body fat, Atlas moths live for about a week, the name butterfly comes from old English, they were butter colored before butter was yellow, a field guide for butterflies would be huge, they are losing their habitats from deforestation, http://www.monarchwatch.org/, milkweed makes them arsenic, they spend all their life giving off pheromones they reproduce and then they die, the monarch butterflies are in trouble,