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Monarchs Sent Off to Mariachi Beat
New York Times
Print Media Edition: Late
Edition (East Coast)
New York, N.Y.
Sep 23, 2000
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Authors: Kirk Johnson
Pagination: 3
ISSN: 03624331
Abstract:
The butterflies were not natives of the city -- they had been
captured
near Montauk and driven in for their media closeup before being
released.
The scientists who created the tagging program -- a kind of
monarch census
intended to track the creature's annual fall migration -- were
from the
entomology department of the University of Kansas. The children's
dance
troop was from New Rochelle. The mariachi band was from New York
City,
however, and so was the corporate sponsor that created the event,
a film
production company in Manhattan called MasterVision, which
happens to be
making a documentary about butterflies.
The director of Monarch Watch, Prof. Orley Taylor of the
University of
Kansas, whose organization tags about 70,000 monarchs every year
with quarter-inch
disks stamped with the university's mailing address, said he was
cultivating
the fascination that many people have for these insects. His
group has
created a curriculum on the monarch (available at
www.Monarchwatch.org.)
Using monarchs for such an agenda is not universally popular
in the butterfly
world. The president of the North American Butterfly Association,
Jeffrey
Glassberg, denounced yesterday's event, calling it a ''circus
sideshow.''
Mr. Glassberg, a molecular biologist by training, said that truly
respecting
monarchs meant treating them like wild creatures and observing
them in
their natural environment, not trucking them in for a
demonstration.
Copyright New York Times Company Sep 23, 2000
Full Text:
The dozens of black-and-orange butterflies being held captive
at Monarch
Watch 2000 in Central Park fluttered wildly against the net walls
of their
cage yesterday afternoon when a six-piece mariachi band behind
them began
blaring the Mexican Hat Dance.
Maybe it was just something in the air -- the distinct feel of
fall on
the last day of summer, the light breeze, or perhaps something
less tangible
in the environment that was calling on the butterflies to try, at
that
very moment, a desperate attempt to immediately begin their
annual migration
to Mexico. No one could say.
Human nature and butterfly nature were deeply
intertwined at the annual
fall equinox butterfly-tagging at Belvedere Castle, and it was
difficult
at times to keep the lines straight.
The butterflies were not natives of the city -- they had been
captured
near Montauk and driven in for their media closeup before being
released.
The scientists who created the tagging program -- a kind of
monarch census
intended to track the creature's annual fall migration -- were
from the
entomology department of the University of Kansas. The children's
dance
troop was from New Rochelle. The mariachi band was from New York
City,
however, and so was the corporate sponsor that created the event,
a film
production company in Manhattan called MasterVision, which
happens to be
making a documentary about butterflies.
''I've fallen in love with butterflies,'' said MasterVision's
owner, Richard
Stadin.
Certain wildlife have a power over people, and monarchs are
one of them.
To many, they represent freedom in the same way that lions mean
bravery
or dogs loyalty. Fluttering as though buoyed by sunlight and
traveling
so light that they can sometimes fly nearly 3,000 miles from
their birthplaces
in the Northeast to their winter homes in Mexico, monarchs seem
unbound
by the rules that govern the rest of us.
The director of Monarch Watch, Prof. Orley Taylor of the
University of
Kansas, whose organization tags about 70,000 monarchs every year
with quarter-inch
disks stamped with the university's mailing address, said he was
cultivating
the fascination that many people have for these insects. His
group has
created a curriculum on the monarch (available at
www.Monarchwatch.org.)
Professor Taylor said his goal was to raise awareness of the
fragile and
endangered environmental niche that the monarch inhabits. But he
said he
has heard from teachers who exploit monarch fascination for
teaching everything
from geography to history to math.
''The nice thing about butterflies is that they get children's
interest,
and once you get their interest you can teach them anything,'' he
said.
Using monarchs for such an agenda is not universally popular
in the butterfly
world. The president of the North American Butterfly Association,
Jeffrey
Glassberg, denounced yesterday's event, calling it a ''circus
sideshow.''
Mr. Glassberg, a molecular biologist by training, said that truly
respecting
monarchs meant treating them like wild creatures and observing
them in
their natural environment, not trucking them in for a
demonstration.
''Butterflies are wild animals,'' he said. ''To treat them as
little toys
that you take around and say, 'Isn't that cute?' sends completely
the wrong
message to people.''
Behind the sunniness of yesterday's festivities -- in which
children were
encouraged to tag a butterfly -- there were some dark shadows.
The consul
general of Mexico in New York, Jorge Pinto, asked for help in
preserving
the monarch's Mexican wintering grounds, which one recent study
said had
been greatly reduced by development and logging.
There has also been concern that butterflies have become
victims in the
war against the West Nile virus. Mr. Glassberg said one Brooklyn
resident
reported finding 60 dead caterpillars on his lawn after pesticide
had been
sprayed. Parks Department employees at the event said, however,
that few
butterflies appeared to have been killed by spraying.
The monarch migration through New York is light this year. But
Professor
Taylor said that was because last year's drought in Texas killed
millions
of monarchs on their northbound journey. Like the fragile arc of
their
flight, he said, their world often hangs by a thread.
Captioned as: A mariachi band played in Central Park
yesterday as tagged
monarchs waited to start their migration. (Vincent Laforet/The
New York
Times)
