Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory working to reintroduce an endangered species into the wild
The Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory is helping to reintroduce an endangered species called the Mottled Duskywing Butterfly.
The rare species was first listed as endangered in 2012.
The conservatory has joined forces with other local partners to start the Ontario Butterfly Species at Risk Recovery Team.
“The Mottled Duskywing is the only currently endangered butterfly in Ontario,” said Ryan Norris, a University of Guelph professor and lead on the recovery team. “The host plant that they need to raise their young on is rare.”
This is the third year of the project that involved capturing about two dozen female founders in Hastings County.
“And from those females, you were able to get 2,500 eggs,” said Adrienne Brewster, executive director at the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory.
Now hundreds of Mottled Dustywings are at a special lab at the Cambridge conservatory, in various stages of its life cycle.
“That entire duration can be anywhere from five to six weeks from egg to adult,” said Brewster.
The butterflies are kept away from the public to keep them protected and are monitored often.
“We also hand feed them to make sure they are sustained properly, to make sure they survive while they’re in the lab,” Brewster said.
This summer the team started releasing the butterflies into the wild at Pinery Provincial Park, north of Sarnia.
“We anticipate being able to release about just over 500 at Pinery Provincial Park and will be releasing about 600 or more to the original site where we took the female founders from,” said Brewster.
Now it’s a matter of waiting to see if the butterflies survive in their new environment once they are released.
“We do daily monitoring of the individuals that we released,” said Norris.
The goal is to have the Mottled Duskywing Butterfly delisted and no longer considered an endangered species. Experts admit it could take five to 10 years for that to happen, but the team is confident their hard work will pay off.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'It could be catastrophic': Woman says natural supplement contained hidden painkiller drug
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
After hearing thousands of last words, this hospital chaplain has advice for the living
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
WHO likely to issue wider alert on contaminated cough syrup
The World Health Organization is likely to issue a wider warning about contaminated Johnson and Johnson-made children's cough syrup found in Nigeria last week, it said in an email.
WATCH Video shows dramatic police takedown of carjacking suspects chased through parking lot north of Toronto
Police have released video footage of a dramatic takedown of a group of teens wanted in connection with an attempted carjacking in Markham earlier this month.
Canada, G7 urge 'all parties' to de-escalate in growing Mideast conflict
Canada called for 'all parties' to de-escalate rising tensions in the Mideast following an apparent Israeli drone attack against Iran overnight.
'It was all my savings': Ontario woman loses $15K to fake Walmart job scam
A woman who recently moved to Canada from India was searching for a job when she got caught in an online job scam and lost $15,000.
Families to receive Canada Child Benefit payment on Friday
More money will land in the pockets of some Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit installment.
After COVID, WHO defines disease spread 'through air'
The World Health Organization and around 500 experts have agreed for the first time on what it means for a disease to spread through the air, in a bid to avoid the confusion early in the COVID-19 pandemic that some scientists have said cost lives.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer denied bail after being charged with killing Canadian couple
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.