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At 10:40 AM -0300 8/10/12, Larry at Bogan.ca wrote:
>In the last several days we have released eleven Monarch butterflys
>that have emerged from their chrysallises. Several more will emerge
>today. We tagged eight of them so far and will eventually tag 25
>butterflies. We had over 40 chrysallises hanging inside from
>Monarchs that we have raised from eggs and small larvae. We still
>have about four more larvae that will pupate.
>
>Stangely, we have seen only one fresh Monarch butterfly in our
>gardens that was probably wild raised. We have looked for
>chrysallises in the wild and found very few in our large field of
>milkweed. Success is small there.
Success, for wild butterflies, is small everywhere, Larry! On
average, butterflies barely manage to "replace themselves" (which is
why we're not knee-deep in butterflies). "On average," a female
butterfly may be capable of laying 500 or so eggs, but she may manage
to lay only half of those because of cloudy/cool conditions that
limit flight or the rarity/spacing of preferred host plants. But even
if the eggs are laid, the chances of them surviving to maturity is
very, very low.
Mortality for the immature stages (eggs, caterpillars and chrysalids)
of butterflies (and many, if not most, insects) approaches 99% or
more. So look at it this way, if a female butterfly lays 100 eggs
than 99 (on average) will succumb to a wide-variety of mortality
sources, mainly predation but including fungal infection, disease,
environmental conditions that affect host plants, and innate
mortality such as pupation or eclosure errors, etc.
By captive rearing you're acting to greatly enhance (25x!) natural
reproduction levels...and this is why butterfly farming works!
Phil
--
Phil Schappert, PhD
27 Clovis Ave.
Halifax, NS, B3P 1J3
902-404-5679 (home)
902-460-8343 (cell)
www.philschappert.com
www.papiliomusic.ca
"Just let imagination lead, reality will follow through..."
(Michael Hedges)
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