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Contents:

1) Welcome!

2) Status of the Population

3) Can Monarchs Detect Sound?

4) 'Tis the Season

5) Adopt-a-Classroom Trip Cancelled

6) Tag Recovery Fund

7) 2001 Season Summary

8) How to Unsubscribe from this Update

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1) Welcome to Monarch Watch's Update List!

You are receiving this email because you have provided Monarch Watch with your email address at some point and expressed interest in receiving updates from us. If you do not wish to receive these periodic (probably monthly) email updates or feel that you were subscribed in error, please see the unsubscribe information at the end of this message.

Have you somehow missed (or misplaced ;-) an update? Now you can find all of the updates archived online at

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If you know someone that you think might be interested in receiving these email updates from Monarch Watch with monarch news, special announcements, tips on raising monarchs in your classroom, monarch tagging information and a whole lot more, please send them on over to

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to join our new Monarch-Watch-Update email list - it's easy!

Monarch Watch (http://www.MonarchWatch.org) is a not-for-profit educational outreach program based at the University of Kansas. We run a Monarch tagging program and offer Monarch Rearing Kits, Monarch Tagging Kits, and other educational/promotional materials that allow you to actively experience the monarch life cycle and its spectacular fall migration.If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us anytime!

Your friends at Monarch Watch
http://www.MonarchWatch.org
monarch@ku.edu

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2) Status of the Population - by Chip Taylor

There is little to report about the status of the monarch population. An account in a Mexican newspaper suggested that the monarchs had returned in substantial numbers. However, there were many aspects of this article that were questionable. A long time monarch observer who recently visited Cerro Pelon reported that the numbers of monarchs in that colony were fewer than last year. I have been predicting low numbers of monarchs in the overwintering colonies this winter, perhaps no more than 3 hectares in total. When told of this low number, one of my correspondents in Michigan replied that my prediction was probably too high, as monarch production in that state was extremely low this past season. We will know more about the numbers of overwintering monarchs by mid January.

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3) Can Monarchs Detect Sound or Do They Live in a Silent World? - by Chip Taylor

There is a well known "Far Side" cartoon by Gary Larson in which a person is giving his dog commands with a balloon over the dog's head indicating what the dog is actually hearing: "blah, blah, blah, blah". As someone who has attempted to train a dog or two, this cartoon is right on. What we say and what is understood are often distinctly different. In fact, what we say to some of the creatures we talk to may not be heard at all. Have you ever talked to your butterflies or caterpillars? Do you think they can hear you? Ok, so you're too embarrassed to admit talking to some of the lesser critters you've encountered; nevertheless, it is of interest to know if we are heard, even if we don't expect to be understood. Well, I'll admit it. I've talked to caterpillars and I know they can hear me. Often, when rearing large numbers of monarch larvae, I've demonstrated to visitors that they can perceive sound. The next time you have an open cage with a large number of fifth instar larvae, walk up to the cage and say "Hello" in strong bass tones. The larvae, often in unison, will rear back and swing the fore part of their body from side to side. If you say "Hello" sharply enough, about three times, some of the larvae will drop from the plants. High frequency sound seems to be less effective in eliciting this response. The literature suggests that in many species caterpillars have hairs which are sensitive to low frequency sounds. Why they respond to sound in this manner is a matter of conjecture but one possibility is that the rearing back and head swinging is a defensive behavior designed to drive off predators or parasites.

What about adult monarch butterflies? Well, I've talked to them too but I've never been able to detect a response - nor did I expect to. Actually, some butterflies have hearing organs (Vogel's organ) at the base of the underside of the wings, e.g., longwings (Heliconius), crackers (Hamadryas) and several satyrids (Cercyonis, Erebia, Maniola, etc.). These structures are analogous to the human eardrum in that there is a membrane (tympanum) that receives the sound. Sound induced vibrations in the tympanum stimulate nerves in a chordodontal organ attached to its inner surface. One group of primitive butterflies with hearing organs on the wings, Hedyloidea or hedylids, has been shown to respond to bat sonar. This is the only group of butterflies known to fly at night. The hedylids seem to be a transitional group between butterflies and moths, with immatures similar to those of butterflies but with adult features that are more moth-like. Auditory organs are used to detect and avoid bats in several families of moths.

Many butterfly web sites declare that butterflies hear with their wings. I know of no evidence supporting such a statement for species that lack distinct hearing organs. Airborne sounds, as opposed to substrate vibrations, strong enough to vibrate wings are likely to be detected on sensory hairs on the legs or mouthparts before they are "detected" by wings. If the hedylids with hearing organs are ancestral to modern butterflies, these organs were lost in most species as the diurnal habit was acquired. In other words, if butterflies are derived from night flying insects with auditory organs, most species have lost this function and live in a silent world unless they have hearing organs (e.g., specialized labial palps such as those found on the mouthparts of some hawkmoths) that have yet to be detected.

Highly developed structures such as Vogel's organs of some butterflies and the hearing organs of moths are associated with specific functions in which detection of sound facilitates avoidance of predators, species recognition, or courtship. In cracker butterflies (Hamadryas), males perch on tree trunks and produce sound as they fly in pursuit of passing butterflies. This sound is evidently detected by the Vogel's organ on the wings of their own and related species but is probably unheard by unrelated species. It seems likely that other butterfly species (Heliconius, Maniola, etc.) with hearing organs also employ sound in recognition or courtship although this has yet to be established. At present, there is no indication that adult monarchs, and the majority of butterflies, produce sounds or use them to communicate and therefore have no refined sense of hearing or hearing organs.

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4) 'Tis the Season

When you are looking for unique gifts for your or yourself please consider shopping at Gulliver's Gift Shop. Our new store is packed with great items for anyone who enjoys, butterflies, birds, or anything nature related. From books to binoculars and Audio/Video to optics you can find what you want in Gulliver's Gift Shop.

Wondermugs - This unique line of coffee mugs changes appearance when you add something warm to it. We have Wondermugs with butterflies, birds, whales, the seasons and more. Fill the mug with coffee, tea, hot chocolate or any warm drink and watch your mug's scene change.

Calendars - Perfect for the start of the new year, Gulliver's Gift Shop has a wonderful selection of nature related calendars. Our selection includes calendars for people ho chase birds, watch butterfly or fancy wolves. We have calendars for whale fanatics, wildflower sniffers, or people who just love being outside.

Of course Gulliver's Gift Shop is loaded with other wonderful things so please stop by when you're online. Remember, each purchase at Gulliver's Gift Shop supports Monarch Watch.

Thanks and Happy Holidays from everyone at Monarch Watch!

Visit Gulliver's Gift Shop at http://shop.monarchwatch.org

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5) Adopt-a-Classroom Trip Cancelled

Due to our financial constraints, we must cancel the Adopt-A-Classroom trip to Mexico this winter. This is unfortunate since we have acquired 4-5 tons of school supplies and books to deliver to the schools in the vicinity of the Monarch Reserves in Mexico. We wish to thank all of those who have sent us new and used school materials. These items are in storage, along with many out-of-adoption textbooks in Spanish from school districts in Texas, and will be delivered to the schools in Mexico as soon as we have obtained sufficient contributions to fund the trip. Adopt-a-Classroom expenses exceed $12,000 annually (see Adopt-a-Classroom reports on the web site) and we have only received about a third of this amount from contributions. Unfortunately, we don't have sufficient funds to cover the balance from our operating budget. We usually combine the Adopt-a-Classroom trip with visits to the colonies to buy tags from the guides and local residents. We will make a trip to Mexico to purchase tags in February or March, after most of the tags for this year have been collected by the guides.

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6) Tag Recovery Fund

Thanks to all of you who have contributed to the Tag Recovery Fund. We have received enough contributions to enable us to purchase approximately 560 tags in Mexico this winter. If my estimate of the size of the overwintering population is correct (3 hectares for all colonies combined), the number of tags recovered this winter will be low, perhaps 300 tags. Should this be the case, we would have sufficient funds to purchase 260 tags from last years' post-storm recoveries. Even though Dave Kust helped us acquire 1930 tags last year, he was unable to purchase all the tags from the guides and local residents. It is possible that the local residents already have in hand as many as 1000 additional tags from last years' collection. These people are waiting patiently for us to return to Mexico to purchase these tags and we don't want to disappoint them. We plan to purchase 1100 tags on our next trip to Mexico; however, we simply don't have the funds to purchase this many tags. We could still use your help with the Tag Recovery Fund - if you would like to contribute to this fund, please send your checks to:

Monarch Watch
1200 Sunnyside Avenue
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045

Thank you!

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7) 2001 Season Summary

The 2001 Season Summary will be sent to the printer just after the first of the year (yes, it is very late ;-). As soon as we have a better idea of when it will be delivered we'll pass that information along via our website and/or this update.

Again,thank you for your patience!

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8) How to Unsubscribe from this Update

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Thanks!

Monarch Watch
http://www.MonarchWatch.org
monarch@ku.edu