Monarch butterfly numbers in Mexico rise by 35%

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican experts say the number of monarch butterflies that arrived this year to winter in mountaintop forests rose by 35% compared to the previous season. Experts say the rise may reflect the butterflies’ ability to adapt to more extreme bouts of heat or drought, by varying the date when they leave Mexico. Each year they return to the United States and Canada on an annual migration that is threatened by habitat loss north of the border, and deforestation in Mexico. They said Monday that illegal logging in the butterflies’wintering ground rose by about 4.5% this year, to 13.9 hectares (34 acres).