Monarch butterflies take center stage at New York museum exhibition

Tiny wings carry monarch butterflies on an extraordinary journey, and a new exhibit at New York's American Museum of Natural History brings their travels to life through art.

"Monarch's Journey," which opened Friday (October 16), features illustrations by cartoonist and environmentalist Peter Kuper exploring the butterflies' annual migration from the northern US and Canada to central Mexico.

The museum said the exhibit combines Kuper's artwork with video of migrating monarchs near its butterfly research collection in the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation.

The butterflies' southward trip can cover 3,000 miles and take as long as two months, according to the museum. They spend the winter gathered together in Mexico's forested mountains.

At Friday's preview, museum President Sean Decatur described the exhibit as a collaboration connecting Kuper's illustrations with the museum's scientific perspective on monarchs and the broader importance of insects.

Decatur said roads, buildings and other development have interrupted areas where monarchs previously stopped during migration, making their journey more difficult and threatening their life cycle.

For Kuper, drawing offers a more intimate connection with insects and a way to share his enthusiasm for creatures people often ignore or dismiss as pests. He said the project became a mission to help people recognize insects' importance to human survival.

Exhibit curator Jessica Ware, chair of the museum's Division of Invertebrate Zoology, encouraged people to help monarchs by planting native milkweed, which their caterpillars need to grow, and native flowering plants that provide nectar for adults.

Ware also urged people to talk with neighbors and local officials about protecting green spaces so insects have places to survive. The museum said the exhibit recommends leaving some grass uncut and avoiding insecticides as additional ways to help.

A window beside the exhibit gives visitors a glimpse into the museum's butterfly research collection, which contains more than 1.3 million butterfly specimens, including thousands of monarchs, providing material for research into conservation and environmental change.

Ware showed preserved monarchs from the collection, saying its oldest monarch specimens date from the 1850s. Her enthusiasm extended to her fingertips: her daughter had painted her nails with designs resembling monarch butterfly wings.

Across from the exhibit, visitors can see living butterflies in the Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium, which houses as many as 80 species from around the world. One butterfly briefly perched on a man's shoulder before flying away.

"That was great," he said.

Camera, Production, Editing, Writing: Roselle Chen/Reuters