| Michoacan, Mexico - December 2, 2005 - Each year monarch butterflies fly nearly 3,000 miles to winter in central Mexico. But this year they had company. It had similar colors, but was bigger. Much bigger. Pilot Francisco "Vico" Guiterrez decorated an ultralight with orange and yellow monarch wings and flew with the butterflies to track their migration. |
The 72-day, 84-hour journey was supported by the World Wildlife Foundation, and was meant to raise awareness that the butterflies' winter habitat is threatened by illegal logging. But it also provided insight to researchers on how the butterflies handle temperature shifts, changing wind patterns and more.Guiterrez, as well as pilots from Canada, the United States and Mexico, left Quebec on Aug. 22, and arrived in the Mexican State of Michoacan on Nov. 3. The pilots took turns guiding the two-seat, 420-pound craft and filming the butterflies' journey for a one-hour documentary. The ultralight plane flew an average of 60 to 70 miles an hour, and landed in more than 40 locations in three countries. The team's progress was posted on www.papalotzin.com. The journey and plane were named Papalotzin, or "diminutive butterfly" in the Aztec language. At times, the butterflies fared better than the plane. Thermals occasionally turned the flight into a turbulent one, even though they could see butterflies flying at altitudes of about 9,000 feet. Once, they were forced to make an emergency landing in the middle of the desert. The journey helped to increase awareness of the monarch's plight, and included news conferences and educational events. At one stop, children presented the team drawings and poems about the monarch. At their final stop in Mexico, children wearing black and orange wings cheered as the plane touched down. "Understanding the cycle of life, migration and challenges of this small butterfly, which has the ability to fly more than 3,000 miles, gives humanity a unique message: We can and should learn to confront the diverse challenges of life," Guiterrez told Reuters.
The above courtesy of:
http://www.youngeagles.com/news/ |
