People handle monarch butterflies. A lot. Every year thousands of monarch butterflies are caught, tagged and released during their fall migration by citizen scientists helping to track their movements. And thousands of caterpillars are reared by hand or used in classroom demonstrations and outreach events.
These activities can provide valuable scientific data and educational benefits for the people participating in them. But how do the monarchs themselves feel about being handled by humans?
The answer, according to a new study from University of Georgia ecologist Andy Davis, depends on their life stage: Being handled is stressful to them but only in their early life.
“Most people don’t realize that insects get stressed in much the same way as vertebrates do,” said Davis, an assistant research scientist in the Odum School of Ecology. “People handle monarchs for all of these activities, but if you imagine yourself in their place, what would it be like for us if a 50-foot-tall robot picked us up and passed us around? From the monarch’s perspective, maybe for them this is akin to being attacked by a predator.”
Read more at University of Georgia
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