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Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve

Mexico
Date of Inscription: 2008
Criteria: (vii)
Core zone: 13551552 ha
Buffer zone: 42707498 ha
N19 36 23 W100 14 30
Ref: 1290

Brief Description

The 56,259 ha biosphere lies within rugged forested mountains about 100 km northwest of Mexico City. Every autumn, millions, perhaps a billion, butterflies from wide areas of North America return to the site and cluster on small areas of the forest reserve, colouring its trees orange and literally bending their branches under their collective weight. In the spring, these butterflies begin an 8 month migration that takes them all the way to Eastern Canada and back, during which time four successive generations are born and die. How they find their way back to their overwintering site remains a mystery.

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