Monarch butterflies are still in the middle of their story – and it’s one that is precarious. Humans are still trying to figure out a lot about them, and aspects of the monarch story have been misrepresented over the years.

Research:
Monarch Joint Venture: https://monarchjointventure.org/
“Monarch Butterfly.” The National Wildlife Federation. https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Invertebrates/Monarch-Butterfly
Sutherland, Douglas W.S. and Jean Adams, ed. “The Monarch Butterfly – Our National Insect.” Part of “Insect Potpourri: Adventures in Entomology.” CRC Press. 1992.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Danaus". Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 Feb. 2018, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Danaus-Greek-mythology
Kathleen S. Murphy. “Collecting Slave Traders: James Petiver, Natural History, and the British Slave Trade.” The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 70, no. 4, 2013, pp. 637–70. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.5309/willmaryquar.70.4.0637
Müller-Wille, Staffan. "Carolus Linnaeus". Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 May. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Carolus-Linnaeus
Stearns, Raymond Phineas. “James Petiver: Promoter of Natural Science, c.1663-1718.” American Antiquarian Society. October 1952. https://www.americanantiquarian.org/proceedings/44807240.pdf
“Mark Catesby (1683 – 1749).” Catesby Commemorative Trust. 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20130906122250/http://www.catesbytrust.org/mark-catesby/
Smith-Rogers, Sheryl. “Maiden of the Monarchs.” TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE. March 2016. https://monarchjointventure.org/images/uploads/documents/legacy_monarch_catalina_trail_article.pdf
Scott, Alec. “Where do you go, my lovelies?” University of Toronto Magazine. Aug. 24, 2015. https://magazine.utoronto.ca/campus/history/where-do-you-go-my-lovelies-norah-and-fred-urquhart-monarch-butterfly-migration/
Hannibal, Mary Ellen. “How you can help save the monarch butterfly -- and the planet.” TEDTalk. April 28, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvJTbegktKc
Jarvis CE, Oswald PH. The collecting activities of James Cuninghame FRS on the voyage of Tuscan to China (Amoy) between 1697 and 1699. Notes Rec R Soc Lond. 2015 Jun 20;69(2):135–53. doi: 10.1098/rsnr.2014.0043.
“The US Endangered Species Act.” World Wildlife Federation. https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/the-us-endangered-species-act#:~:text=Passed%20with%20bipartisan%20support%20in,a%20species%20should%20be%20protected.
Associated Press. “Beloved monarch butterflies are now listed as endangered.” WBEZ Chicago. July 23, 2022. https://www.wbez.org/stories/beloved-monarch-butterflies-are-now-listed-as-endangered/0f3cf69b-8376-42eb-af0a-9e8b8b4ab6b3
Garland, Mark S., and Andrew K. Davis. “An Examination of Monarch Butterfly (Danaus Plexippus) Autumn Migration in Coastal Virginia.” The American Midland Naturalist, vol. 147, no. 1, 2002, pp. 170–74. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3083045
“Natural History – Monarch Butterfly.” Center for Biological Diversity. https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/invertebrates/monarch_butterfly/natural_history.html
Catesby, Mark. “A Monarch butterfly, with orchids.” C. 1722-6. Royal Collection Trust. https://www.rct.uk/collection/926050/a-monarch-butterfly-with-orchids
Daly, Natasha. “Monarch butterflies are now an endangered species.” July 21, 2022. National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/monarch-butterflies-are-now-an-endangered-species
Walker, A., Oberhauser, K.S., Pelton, E.M., Pleasants, J.M. & Thogmartin, W.E. 2022. Danaus plexippus ssp. plexippus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T194052138A200522253. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T194052138A200522253.en
Price, Michael. “Monarch miscalculation: Has a scientific error about the butterflies persisted for more than 40 years?” Science. Feb. 24, 2007. https://www.science.org/content/article/monarch-miscalculation-has-scientific-error-about-butterflies-persisted-more-40-years
Jiang, Kevin. “Study sheds light on evolutionary origins and the genes central to migration.” UChicago News. Oct. 6, 2014. https://news.uchicago.edu/story/genetic-secrets-monarch-butterfly-revealed
Borkin, Susan Sullivan. “Notes on Shifting Distribution Patterns and Survival of Immature Danaus Plexippus (Lepidoptera: Danaidae) on the Food Plant Asclepias Syriaca.” The Great Lakes Entymologist. Vol. 15, No. 3. Fall 1982. https://scholar.valpo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1437&context=tgle
Cudmore, Rebecca. “SNAPSHOT: Monarchs with big, bright wings arrive in Mexico first.” ScienceLine. June 16, 2014. https://scienceline.org/2014/06/monarch-migration/
Brower, Lincoln P. “UNDERSTANDING AND MISUNDERSTANDING THE MIGRAnON OF THE MONARCH BUTTERFLY (NYMPHALIDAE) IN NORTH AMERICA: 1857-1995.” Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society. Vol. 49, No. 4, 1995. https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/Monarch_Butterfly/documents/Understanding_Monarch_Migration1995-Brower.pdf

Monarch butterflies are still in the middle of their story – and it’s one that is precarious. Humans are still trying to figure out a lot about them, and aspects of the monarch story have been misrepresented over the years.
Research:
<ul>
<li>Monarch Joint Venture: https://monarchjointventure.org/</li>
<li>“Monarch Butterfly.” The National Wildlife Federation. https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Invertebrates/Monarch-Butterfly</li>
<li>Sutherland, Douglas W.S. and Jean Adams, ed. “The Monarch Butterfly – Our National Insect.” Part of “Insect Potpourri: Adventures in Entomology.” CRC Press. 1992.</li>
<li>Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Danaus". Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 Feb. 2018, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Danaus-Greek-mythology</li>
<li>Kathleen S. Murphy. “Collecting Slave Traders: James Petiver, Natural History, and the British Slave Trade.” The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 70, no. 4, 2013, pp. 637–70. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.5309/willmaryquar.70.4.0637</li>
<li>Müller-Wille, Staffan. "Carolus Linnaeus". Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 May. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Carolus-Linnaeus</li>
<li>Stearns, Raymond Phineas. “James Petiver: Promoter of Natural Science, c.1663-1718.” American Antiquarian Society. October 1952. https://www.americanantiquarian.org/proceedings/44807240.pdf</li>
<li>“Mark Catesby (1683 – 1749).” Catesby Commemorative Trust. 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20130906122250/http://www.catesbytrust.org/mark-catesby/</li>
<li>Smith-Rogers, Sheryl. “Maiden of the Monarchs.” TEXAS PARKS &amp; WILDLIFE. March 2016. https://monarchjointventure.org/images/uploads/documents/legacy_monarch_catalina_trail_article.pdf</li>
<li>Scott, Alec. “Where do you go, my lovelies?” University of Toronto Magazine. Aug. 24, 2015. https://magazine.utoronto.ca/campus/history/where-do-you-go-my-lovelies-norah-and-fred-urquhart-monarch-butterfly-migration/</li>
<li>Hannibal, Mary Ellen. “How you can help save the monarch butterfly -- and the planet.” TEDTalk. April 28, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvJTbegktKc</li>
<li>Jarvis CE, Oswald PH. The collecting activities of James Cuninghame FRS on the voyage of Tuscan to China (Amoy) between 1697 and 1699. Notes Rec R Soc Lond. 2015 Jun 20;69(2):135–53. doi: 10.1098/rsnr.2014.0043.</li>
<li>“The US Endangered Species Act.” World Wildlife Federation. https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/the-us-endangered-species-act#:~:text=Passed%20with%20bipartisan%20support%20in,a%20species%20should%20be%20protected.</li>
<li>Associated Press. “Beloved monarch butterflies are now listed as endangered.” WBEZ Chicago. July 23, 2022. https://www.wbez.org/stories/beloved-monarch-butterflies-are-now-listed-as-endangered/0f3cf69b-8376-42eb-af0a-9e8b8b4ab6b3</li>
<li>Garland, Mark S., and Andrew K. Davis. “An Examination of Monarch Butterfly (Danaus Plexippus) Autumn Migration in Coastal Virginia.” The American Midland Naturalist, vol. 147, no. 1, 2002, pp. 170–74. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3083045</li>
<li>“Natural History – Monarch Butterfly.” Center for Biological Diversity. https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/invertebrates/monarch_butterfly/natural_history.html</li>
<li>Catesby, Mark. “A Monarch butterfly, with orchids.” C. 1722-6. Royal Collection Trust. https://www.rct.uk/collection/926050/a-monarch-butterfly-with-orchids</li>
<li>Daly, Natasha. “Monarch butterflies are now an endangered species.” July 21, 2022. National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/monarch-butterflies-are-now-an-endangered-species</li>
<li>Walker, A., Oberhauser, K.S., Pelton, E.M., Pleasants, J.M. &amp; Thogmartin, W.E. 2022. Danaus plexippus ssp. plexippus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T194052138A200522253. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T194052138A200522253.en</li>
<li>Price, Michael. “Monarch miscalculation: Has a scientific error about the butterflies persisted for more than 40 years?” Science. Feb. 24, 2007. https://www.science.org/content/article/monarch-miscalculation-has-scientific-error-about-butterflies-persisted-more-40-years</li>
<li>Jiang, Kevin. “Study sheds light on evolutionary origins and the genes central to migration.” UChicago News. Oct. 6, 2014. https://news.uchicago.edu/story/genetic-secrets-monarch-butterfly-revealed</li>
<li>Borkin, Susan Sullivan. “Notes on Shifting Distribution Patterns and Survival of Immature Danaus Plexippus (Lepidoptera: Danaidae) on the Food Plant Asclepias Syriaca.” The Great Lakes Entymologist. Vol. 15, No. 3. Fall 1982. https://scholar.valpo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1437&amp;context=tgle</li>
<li>Cudmore, Rebecca. “SNAPSHOT: Monarchs with big, bright wings arrive in Mexico first.” ScienceLine. June 16, 2014. https://scienceline.org/2014/06/monarch-migration/</li>
<li>Brower, Lincoln P. “UNDERSTANDING AND MISUNDERSTANDING THE MIGRAnON OF THE MONARCH BUTTERFLY (NYMPHALIDAE) IN NORTH AMERICA: 1857-1995.” Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society. Vol. 49, No. 4, 1995. https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/Monarch_Butterfly/documents/Understanding_Monarch_Migration1995-Brower.pdf</li>
</ul>

Join Holly and Tracy as they bring you the greatest and strangest Stuff You Missed In History Class in this podcast by iHeartRadio.

Stuff You Missed in History Class

Monarch butterflies are still in the middle of their story – and it’s one that is precarious. Humans are still trying to figure out a lot about them, and aspects of the monarch story have been misrepresented over the years.

The Developing History of Monarch Butterflies

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/548ad05b-1c2c-48d7-baf6-aef20056496f/transcript

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