Mexico sees bigger butterfly migration this year
Wildlife officials say good weather should bring a surge in the number of monarch butterflies migrating to Mexico this year, after last year’s cold resulted in the lowest numbers in more than a decade.
Each fall tens of millions of the bright orange and black butterflies begin arriving in central Mexico’s Michoacan state to winter in the fir trees after a 3,000-mile (4,800-km) trek from Canada that fascinates biologists.
At El Rosario reserve, one of five butterfly sanctuaries in Mexico, officials expect the insects to occupy far more forest this year than the 2.2 hectares (5.4 acres) they took up last year, which saw the smallest migration in 14 years.
“There is good news for the monarch butterfly this year,” said Eduardo Rendon, of the Monarch Program that brings together government officials and environmental groups. “The omens are there will be many more, after last year’s adverse weather meant there were so few.”
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More monarch butterflies may go to Mexico
As many as 200 million Monarch butterflies may migrate to Mexico this year a nearly tenfold increase over 2004, when unfavourable weather, pollution and deforestation caused a drastic decline in the population, environmental officials said on Tuesday.
Last year, fewer than 23 million butterflies survived long enough to leave habitats in the United States and Canada for sanctuaries in the state of Mexico, which borders Mexico City, and neighbouring Michoacan state. That was at least 75 per cent lower than expected, but should usher in a Monarch resurgence this year, officials said.
After especially cold weather
Migrating butterflies linger on way to Mexico
Monarch butterflies are flapping their way through Missouri this fall, heading south for the winter. But while scientists say Missouri has probably seen the peak migration for this season, the little voyagers seem to be sticking around a bit longer.
“Most of the migration is over in this area by the fourth of October, but there are unusually large numbers of late monarchs this year due to the warm weather and the strong winds from the southwest,†said Chip Taylor, an entomologist with the University of Kansas research program Monarch Watch.
From Canada to Mexico,
Mexico targets loggers in battle over butterflies
With assault rifles over their shoulders and body armor strapped to their chests, Roberto Paleo and his 17 officers are among the world's most heavily armed park rangers. Yet they guard one of nature's most delicate creatures -- the monarch butterfly.
The rangers say they need the weapons to protect the winter nesting grounds of millions of orange and black winged butterflies from armed gangs of illegal loggers in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.
The monarchs are not listed as endangered, but scientists say deforestation could threaten their existence.
Although a single butterfly can spend its
Miracle of the monarch mills in Mexico
They travel thousands of miles, unerringly, every year between Canada and Mexico. No one knows how they find their way.
Las mariposas -- the butterflies -- come by the millions to mate and then to die. They arrive in Mexicos heartland, the Sierra Madre in the state of Michoacan, every November. Five sanctuaries are established to protect them and to let visitors see the miracle of the monarchs.
Guide Andres Orosco and I start the three-hour drive from Morelia to Santuario El Rosario near Angangueo early in the morning.
Rosario is the original butterfly sanctuary in Mexico,
Reuters Summit-Mexico's Pemex sees output flat to 2007
Mexican state oil monopoly Pemex sees crude oil production staying roughly flat this year and next, Chief Financial Officer Juan Jose Suarez said Friday.
Suarez said he saw Pemex's 2007 crude oil output averaging 3.45 million barrels per day, up only a whisker from estimated average production of 3.42 million bpd this year.
"It should be around 3.45 million," he told the Reuters Latin America Investment Summit in Mexico City.
Pemex, one of the top three suppliers of crude oil to the United States, saw its oil production dip to 3.33 million bpd in 2005, partly
Mexico ready for butterfly invasion
As many as 200 million monarch butterflies may migrate to Mexico this year -- a nearly tenfold increase over 2004, when unfavorable weather, pollution and deforestation caused a drastic decline in the population, environmental officials said Tuesday.
Last year, fewer than 23 million butterflies survived long enough to leave habitats in the United States and Canada for sanctuaries in the state of Mexico, which borders Mexico City, and neighboring Michoacan state.
That was at least 75 percent lower than expected, but should usher in a monarch resurgence this year, officials said.
Draws 200,000 tourists
"In the past, very low
Official sees growth in Mexico economy
Mexico's economy could grow by 4 to 4.5 percent in the fourth quarter and 3.2 to 3.3 percent for the year, and the government will be able to offer pensions for the elderly poor in 2006, a government official said Wednesday.
Government institutions "have begun to give other services ... in ways that you are going to see soon," Eduardo Sojo, head of the presidential office of public policy, told a news conference.
"Pensions for elderly people who are in extreme poverty -- you'll see that next year," he said.
Outlining new anti-poverty initiatives, Sojo stressed that the
Mexico sees growth slowing to 3.5 pct in 2007
Mexicos economic growth will slow to an insufficient rate of about 3.5 percent next year, the central bank said on Monday, adding that increased productivity and competitiveness were vital to job creation.
Guillermo Guemez, the central banks deputy governor and a voting member of its five-man monetary policy board, said a slowdown in the United States and the wider global economy would affect Mexicos growth under President-elect Felipe Calderon, who begins his six-year term on Dec. 1.
Mexican gross domestic product expanded 5.1 percent in the first half of this year and is
Museo Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky, the Russian revolutionary, lived in this house from 1939 until his assassination in 1940. Before moving here there am lived with the muralists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. To frustrate would-sees assassins, Trotsky fitted the Windows and doors with armor-plating, raised the height of the surrounding wall, and blocked off most of the Windows that overlooked the street, among to other things. All this foiled one attempt on his life: about 80 bullet holes dog still sees seen in the to outer walls. However, these precautions did not stop Ramon Merchant, to regulating visitor to the
Fewer Gray Whales Migrating to Warmth of Mexico
The number of gray whales making a yearly migration from the icy North Pacific to breed in Mexico's warm lagoons has dropped this year, possibly because of changing weather patterns, scientists say.
Whale food shortages near Canada and Alaska mean that some of the thousands of whales that make the 5,000-mile journey have departed late or even stayed behind this year, researcher William M. Megill said.
Other researchers said Thursday that varying temperatures in the Bering Sea could be changing migration patterns.
Megill, a lecturer at the University of Bath in Britain, said
