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10h ago

Mexico Opens Monarch Sanctuaries as First Satellite-Tracked Butterflies Arrive

A cross-border project fitted more than 400 monarchs with solar transmitters and is publishing real-time maps to guide conservation.

mariposa monarca
Image
Diseño editorial ilustrado que muestra varias mariposas Monarca volando sobre un mapa de América del Norte, con árboles de oyamel y vegetación en primer plano. El texto destaca la migración de más de 4,500 km desde Canadá hasta México que ocurre cada otoño.

Overview

  • Mexico’s protected areas agency will open the oyamel sanctuaries on Nov. 22 from 08:00 to 17:00 at El Rosario, Senguio and Sierra Chincua in Michoacán, and El Capulín and La Mesa in the State of Mexico.
  • More than 400 butterflies now carry 5‑centimeter, solar-powered Bluetooth transmitters weighing about 60 milligrams, tracked via an app network that turns phones into wildlife detection stations across North America and the Caribbean.
  • The first satellite-tagged monarch, ID MW026, was verified in the Michoacán oyamel forests on Nov. 9 after a southbound journey from a Sept. 27 release in Kansas.
  • Project partners including Cellular Tracking Technologies, the Cape May Point Arts & Sciences Center and Joint Venture Monarch are sharing real-time movement maps documenting individual flights to the winter colonies.
  • Researchers in Mexico are using the phone network and portable receivers to find tagged butterflies now and plan to place additional transmitters on northbound migrants in spring 2026.