Transformation

Hi Astronuts,

Not exactly astronomy, but a natural phenomenon of the blue planet as it hurls thru space around its parent star:

Our native prairie outside the observatory produced a bonus this year. We had monarchs laying eggs and saw a number of caterpillars on the milkweed plants. Upon reading up, it turns out that these caterpillars have only a 1% to 5% chance of survival before turning into butterflies. Monarchs are endangered, and especially this year the number has crashed dramatically.

So we gathered what we could find and brought them in. They are voracious eaters and consumed a lot of milkweed leaves before finally forming a chrysalis. About a weeks later (this morning) two of the 4 finally emerged as beautiful butterflies. The other two will probably emerge tomorrow.

Here are some pix.

http://www.astromart.com/common/imag...9.jpg&caption=

We brought them in and put them up in an aquarium. Here one of them has formed the chrysalis
http://www.astromart.com/common/imag...0.jpg&caption=

About a week later, out comes the first one
http://www.astromart.com/common/imag...1.jpg&caption=

Wings fully formed
http://www.astromart.com/common/imag...2.jpg&caption=

Enjoying showy goldenrod flowers and almost ready to fly off.
http://www.astromart.com/common/imag...3.jpg&caption=

This batch will head south toward Texas and then the mountains of Mexico to join hundreds of thousand other from all over the US.

:^O ;^))

On Tuesday, September 27, 2016 at 7:58:46 PM UTC-5, Davoud wrote:
In article ,
Razzmatazz wrote:

Hi Astronuts,

Not exactly astronomy, but a natural phenomenon of the blue planet as it
hurls thru space around its parent star:

Our native prairie outside the observatory produced a bonus this year. We had
monarchs laying eggs and saw a number of caterpillars on the milkweed plants.
Upon reading up, it turns out that these caterpillars have only a 1% to 5%
chance of survival before turning into butterflies. Monarchs are endangered,
and especially this year the number has crashed dramatically.

So we gathered what we could find and brought them in. They are voracious
eaters and consumed a lot of milkweed leaves before finally forming a
chrysalis. About a weeks later (this morning) two of the 4 finally emerged as
beautiful butterflies. The other two will probably emerge tomorrow.

Here are some pix.


http://www.astromart.com/common/imag...rums/829000-82
9999/829669.jpg&caption=

We brought them in and put them up in an aquarium. Here one of them has
formed the chrysalis

http://www.astromart.com/common/imag...rums/829000-82
9999/829670.jpg&caption=

About a week later, out comes the first one

http://www.astromart.com/common/imag...rums/829000-82
9999/829671.jpg&caption=

Wings fully formed

http://www.astromart.com/common/imag...rums/829000-82
9999/829672.jpg&caption=

Enjoying showy goldenrod flowers and almost ready to fly off.

http://www.astromart.com/common/imag...rums/829000-82
9999/829673.jpg&caption=

This batch will head south toward Texas and then the mountains of Mexico to
join hundreds of thousand other from all over the US.

Beautifully done! I don't see monarchs on my two-acre property in
Maryland any more--in spite of cultivating milkweed. I should say
hardly ever逆here was at least one this year, but it came to a bad end
https://www.flickr.com/photos/primeval/29190491061/.

My property is a "mini nature preserve." No pesticides, no herbicides,
season-long habitat for wildlife.

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

Predation by spiders is the biggest hazard they face from when they are small caterpillars to the butterfly stage. Around here they face vast seas of GMO corn and soybeans which are poisonous to nectar feeders. Along with the bees.

Razzy

On 9/28/16 7:39 AM, Razzmatazz wrote:

Around here they face vast seas of GMO corn and soybeans which are poisonous to nectar feeders. Along with the bees.

Can you support that statement? I haven't seen it in journal articles.

On Wednesday, September 28, 2016 at 10:24:56 AM UTC-5, lal_truckee wrote:
On 9/28/16 7:39 AM, Razzmatazz wrote:

Around here they face vast seas of GMO corn and soybeans which are poisonous to nectar feeders. Along with the bees.

Can you support that statement? I haven't seen it in journal articles.

Sorry, I was mixing up Roundup-ready seeds with seeds coated with neonicotinoids which are heavily used in the Midwest. About 90% of Midwest corn and soybeans use this insecticide. See article in Wiki about bee colony collapse: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neonicotinoid

Razzy

On Wed, 28 Sep 2016 08:33:24 -0700 (PDT), Razzmatazz
wrote:

On Wednesday, September 28, 2016 at 10:24:56 AM UTC-5, lal_truckee wrote:
On 9/28/16 7:39 AM, Razzmatazz wrote:

Around here they face vast seas of GMO corn and soybeans which are poisonous to nectar feeders. Along with the bees.

Can you support that statement? I haven't seen it in journal articles.

Sorry, I was mixing up Roundup-ready seeds with seeds coated with neonicotinoids which are heavily used in the Midwest. About 90% of Midwest corn and soybeans use this insecticide. See article in Wiki about bee colony collapse: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neonicotinoid

There's a secondary effect specifically related to the GMO crops. The
most common GMO crops are designed to make plants resistant to
glyphosate (Roundup). In general that's a good thing, because it
reduces total herbicide usage. Unfortunately, however, milkweed has
normally grown among and around commercial crops, and the increased
reliance on glyphosate means the milkweed is being killed, which
dramatically impacts the monarch population.

Then you add in the direct toxicity of neonicotinoids, and you have a
real double-whammy for monarchs.

Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Wed, 28 Sep 2016 08:33:24 -0700 (PDT), Razzmatazz
wrote:

On Wednesday, September 28, 2016 at 10:24:56 AM UTC-5, lal_truckee wrote:
On 9/28/16 7:39 AM, Razzmatazz wrote:

Around here they face vast seas of GMO corn and soybeans which are
poisonous to nectar feeders. Along with the bees.

Can you support that statement? I haven't seen it in journal articles.

Sorry, I was mixing up Roundup-ready seeds with seeds coated with
neonicotinoids which are heavily used in the Midwest. About 90% of
Midwest corn and soybeans use this insecticide. See article in Wiki
about bee colony collapse: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neonicotinoid

There's a secondary effect specifically related to the GMO crops. The
most common GMO crops are designed to make plants resistant to
glyphosate (Roundup). In general that's a good thing, because it
reduces total herbicide usage. Unfortunately, however, milkweed has
normally grown among and around commercial crops, and the increased
reliance on glyphosate means the milkweed is being killed, which
dramatically impacts the monarch population.

Then you add in the direct toxicity of neonicotinoids, and you have a
real double-whammy for monarchs.


It would be a tragedy for monarchs to go the same way as the passenger
pigeon.

On Wed, 28 Sep 2016 16:39:40 -0000 (UTC), Mike Collins
wrote:

Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Wed, 28 Sep 2016 08:33:24 -0700 (PDT), Razzmatazz
wrote:

On Wednesday, September 28, 2016 at 10:24:56 AM UTC-5, lal_truckee wrote:
On 9/28/16 7:39 AM, Razzmatazz wrote:

Around here they face vast seas of GMO corn and soybeans which are
poisonous to nectar feeders. Along with the bees.

Can you support that statement? I haven't seen it in journal articles.

Sorry, I was mixing up Roundup-ready seeds with seeds coated with
neonicotinoids which are heavily used in the Midwest. About 90% of
Midwest corn and soybeans use this insecticide. See article in Wiki
about bee colony collapse: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neonicotinoid

There's a secondary effect specifically related to the GMO crops. The
most common GMO crops are designed to make plants resistant to
glyphosate (Roundup). In general that's a good thing, because it
reduces total herbicide usage. Unfortunately, however, milkweed has
normally grown among and around commercial crops, and the increased
reliance on glyphosate means the milkweed is being killed, which
dramatically impacts the monarch population.

Then you add in the direct toxicity of neonicotinoids, and you have a
real double-whammy for monarchs.


It would be a tragedy for monarchs to go the same way as the passenger
pigeon.

We're currently in the midst of a large mass extinction event, caused
by humans. The current event, the Holocene extinction, is resulting in
an extinction rate about 1000 times higher than the normal background.
The loss of the monarchs is just the tip of the iceberg.

On Wednesday, September 28, 2016 at 12:43:24 PM UTC-4, peterson wrote:

We're currently in the midst of a large mass extinction event, caused
by humans. The current event, the Holocene extinction, is resulting in
an extinction rate about 1000 times higher than the normal background.
The loss of the monarchs is just the tip of the iceberg.

So naturally you drive around in an SUV and fly in jet aircraft.

Most people don't do those things. What is it that you expect THEM to do about the environment?

On Wed, 28 Sep 2016 11:12:46 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

So naturally you drive around in an SUV and fly in jet aircraft.

Idiot.

On Wednesday, September 28, 2016 at 1:41:53 PM UTC-5, Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Wed, 28 Sep 2016 11:12:46 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

So naturally you drive around in an SUV and fly in jet aircraft.

Idiot.

Didn't take long for him to wreck another thread, did it? Obsessive personality syndrome. Could it be PTDS? You judge: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posttr...tress_disorder

Razzy