Migrations cover generations
By Arturo Morales Tirado

Talk with Slides
The Monarch Butterfly
Arturo Morales Tirado
Tue, Oct 6, 1:30pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
60 pesos

To visit the biosphere reserve of the monarch butterfly, it is important to understand the phenomenon and cultivate a critical awareness of the threat imposed by human activities in Canada, Mexico and the US.

This incredible insect weighs less than two grams and its long-distance migrations cover several generations during a year. Sanmiguelenses visit the sites from November to March.

The Michoacán monarchs migrate 4,000 kilometers from the US east of the Rockies. They encounter snow, hail, rain, temperatures below zero, natural predators like sparrows and the destruction of habitat in Canada, the US and Mexico.

This unique natural phenomenon has been threatened in the last year since the relative population of colonies at 12 sites where they hibernate generally was not found at five sites and at the other seven sites, the occupied surface diminished 75 percent from three years ago.

I have visited the Monarch site at least 20 times each cycle over the last seven years. My Tuesday lecture is profuse in images to illustrate commentary on this amazing phenomenon.

For more information, visit www.tasma.info  or http://www.tasma.info/P%20conferencias
/P%20Conferencias.html.