We occasionally hear of endangered butterfly species. Whats causing this, and what can we do to protect them?
As with most endangered species, the big problem is loss of habitat. A tropical species may only be able to live in a certain area of rainforest, and when that rainforest is logged or destroyed, the butterfly disappears too. In America, one of the first butterflies to be listed under the Endangered Species Act was the El Segundo Blue, which lived on a strip of coastline near the Los Angeles airport. The only way to save that butterfly was to prevent some of its native habitat from being developed and to remove the exotic plants that had invaded that habitat. Rather amazingly, this is exactly what happened. The El Segundo Blue Butterfly Habitat Preserve actually exists right next to LAX. In your book, you talk about the European Map and the Eastern Comma, the Checkered White and the Stonecrop Blue. You even weave tales of the Two-tailed Pasha. How do butterflies get such exquisite names? People do that. People wax poetic. Scientists are bedeviled by these common names because they chang
