|
Monarch Butterfly Tagging
The purpose of the tagging is to associate the location of capture with the point of recovery for each butterfly. The data from these recaptures are used to determine the pathways taken by migrating monarchs, the influence of weather on the migration, the survival rate of the monarchs, etc. Each tagged butterfly must have a tag code (three letters and three numbers) for this system to work. To insure that they do, we create a series of tag numbers using numbers and the alphabet. Each year receives its own unique series. After we decide on a series of tag numbers, we send them to to be printed with waterproof ink on polypropylene sheets that have special 3M ¨ adhesive on the back. The printed tags are placed on a backing from which they can be easily removed. They are organized in groups of 25 consecutive numbers. The tags arrive at Monarch Watch on sheets of 25 tags per sheet.
To learn more about Monarch Butterflies, visit the Monarch Watch website.
| 
