40 monarchs tagged with solar-powered Bluetooth technology, providing researchers and the public with real-time data on first generation monarchs’ behavior during spring migration.
Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) members, the Oklahoma City Zoo and Dallas Zoo, in partnership with Monarch Watch, are collaborating to tag and track monarch butterflies on their spring migration from central Mexico to Canada. This will be the first time this new technology is used to study first generation monarchs.
OKC Zoo Conservation Scientist, Dr. Emily Geest, collaborated with conservationists at Dallas Zoo and Dr. Kristen Baum, Executive Director of Monarch Watch, to tag 40 monarch butterflies with new, ultra-light radiotelemetry transmitters. One group of monarchs were tagged and released at Dallas Zoo on Tuesday, May 5, and a second group at the OKC Zoo on Thursday, May 7.
Tagging monarch butterflies is nothing new for the OKC Zoo, Dallas Zoo, or the scientific community. For years, Zoo experts and community scientists have used alphanumeric coded stickers from Monarch Watch to record when and where a butterfly is caught. When a tagged butterfly is later relocated, it provides information about how far it traveled and where its journey ended, helping scientists to understand migration patterns. Hundreds of thousands of traditional monarch sticker tags are distributed each year. Information from those tags is uploaded into a database and has provided important scientific information about the monarch migration for over 30 years.
“These new lightweight radiotelemetry tags are solar powered with Bluetooth to allow anyone with a phone to contribute to tracking monarch butterflies,” said Dr. Emily Geest.
The transmitter tags were developed by Cellular Tracking Technologies and Cape May Point Arts & Science Center and weigh just 0.06 grams—light enough that they won’t interfere with the butterflies’ ability to fly.
“We weigh every butterfly before we apply the tag. We also monitor the butterflies to make sure they can fly normally with the backpacks before they are released so we can remove them if they are too heavy. Smaller butterflies are tagged with the traditional sticker tags rather than the transmitter backpacks,” Geest added. “This is the first time these new tags have been used to track first generation monarchs so it’s very exciting to be able to see the behavior of spring monarchs.”
Each monarch will be tagged with a transmitter and given a nickname and a code specific to either the OKC Zoo or the Dallas Zoo, where it is released.
“The amount of information these tags are providing is amazing. We can check in on each butterfly and follow their journey across the Red River and further north.”
Anyone can track the progress of the tagged butterflies using the Project Monarch Science app for Apple and Android.
“These tags allow us to begin to understand the spring migration,” stated Geest. “The more we understand about monarch butterflies helps AZA zoos and partners to strengthen their conservation efforts to have the biggest positive impacts on this treasured species.”
"The Dallas Zoo is proud to partner with the OKC Zoo and Monarch Watch on a project that puts cutting-edge science in the hands of everyday people," said Chris Corpus, Dallas Zoo Senior Director of Conservation & Community Impact. "By tagging these butterflies right here at our zoo and inviting anyone with a smartphone to follow their journey north, we're turning our guests into active participants in monarch conservation. Every data point these transmitters collect brings us closer to understanding, and ultimately reversing, one of nature's most dramatic population declines."
Monarch butterflies are an iconic sight throughout North America, but the species is in peril as their population has declined by 90 percent in the last 30 years because of habitat loss, pesticides, and climate change. Both the OKC Zoo and Dallas Zoo are members of the AZA’s SAFE: Saving Animals From Extinction program for the North American Monarch. This program launched in 2020 to address the challenges faced by monarchs and raise awareness for the protection of the species and its habitat though conservation and education efforts.