Three monarch butterflies affixed with tiny tags last summer in Vermont have turned up 2,400 miles away in Mexico. The Vermont Institute of Natural Science has confirmed that one butterfly tagged in Plainfield and two tagged at the VINS Nature Center in Quechee turned up this winter in El Rosario, Mexico.
Scientists have been tagging the monarchs so as to better understand their migratory patterns and environmental threats they may face. VINS consulting naturalist Bryan Pfeiffer calls the butterfly migration one of the great natural events in North America