An explosion of orange butterflies, known as painted ladies, is filling the skies over Southern California as the winged beauties make their way north by the millions.
The colorful insects leave the Mojave Desert for Oregon in the Pacific Northwest every year during their annual migration, but this year their sheer numbers are surprising scientists, according to the San Francisco Gate.
"In 2005, we had a similar outbreak," professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis, Arthur M. Shapiro, told the Gate. He estimated the population at around a billion.
-------------------------------- We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love… and then we return home. - Australian Aboriginal proverb
Bazootiehead-in-training
Posts: 37883 | Location: Somewhere in the middle | Registered: 19 January 2010
The butterfly, which is frequently mistaken for the monarch because of the similar colors, can move as fast a 25 mph and can go for days without stopping
There's no way you could mistake a Painted Lady for a Monarch! Painted Ladies are almost half the size, for one thing.
-------------------------------- “It's hard to win an argument with a smart person. It's damn near impossible to win an argument with a stupid person." -- Bill Murray
Posts: 13811 | Location: The outer burrows | Registered: 27 April 2005
