The monarch butterfly population, “after years of being ravaged by severe weather and shrinking habitats,” shows signs of recovery, reports the New York Times. The orange-and-black butterflies, one of the best-known creatures in America, covered 10 acres of mountain forests in Mexico this winter, more than three times the area they covered last year during their winter hibernation, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
The director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said “we are seeing the beginning of success” of efforts to preserve the species.
A U.S. environmental group, the Center for Biological Diversity, has asked the Interior Department to list the monarch butterfly as a “threatened” species. Some groups blame the drop in the monarch population of loss of milkweed, in part due to expansion of U.S. cropland and use of herbicides to kill weeds. Milkweed is a food for monarch butterflies and also where they lay their eggs.