 |
|
|
 News Around the Republic of Mexico | November 2005 
Activist Ends Flight Along Butterfly Migration Route
 Wire services
| | Mexican pilot Francisco "Vico" Gutierrez, right, and crewmember Andrew Donaldson, fly over Tennessee on their way to Mexico's Monarch butterfly sanctuary in an oversized hang-glider painted with giant versions of the orange, black and white wings of the Monarch. (AP) |
A conservation activist trying to draw attention to the fragility of the Monarch butterflies' winter habitats in Mexico ended a 3,000-mile (4,500-kilometer) flight along the insects' migration route Thursday.
Francisco "Vico" Gutiérrez landed his ultra-light airplane "Papalotzin" in Angangueo, in the central state of Michoacan, one of many forested areas west of Mexico City that serve as a safe haven for thousands of butterflies that migrate each year from Canada.
Papalotzin is a word from the ancient Nahuatl language spoken by the Aztecs that roughly translates to "small butterfly." The wings of the plane were painted to resemble the black-and-orange Monarch.
Gutiérrez, backed by the World Wildlife Fund, the state of Michoacan and the Mexican cell phone company Telcel, made the trip to raise awareness about the need to better conserve the Monarchs' fragile habitats. Illegal logging is thinning and toppling the fir forests that protect the butterflies from rain and cold.
With the help of volunteers from Canada, the United States and Mexico, Gutiérrez conducted filmed interviews with scientists and other butterfly experts and enthusiasts along the way. The crew plans to produce an hour-long documentary of the trip that will be shown in each one of the sites the Papalotzin visited.
"During the trip we shared with millions of people the importance of conserving the Monarch butterfly and its habitat," Gutiérrez said in a news release distributed Thursday by the trip's three sponsors.
"To understand its migration and metamorphosis, its journey from egg to larva to a butterfly that can fly 4,500 kilometers, provides a message for all humanity: the possibility of changing and overcoming the various challenges that arise in life." |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us