No monarch butterfly will fly off from the Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School until each has its wing length measured.
Each September, Amy Snider and her 7th Grade students in her Science class raise butterflies before they set them free into the sky above the Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School.
But before they are tagged and fly off, each monarch butterfly has its wing length measured by a student in Ms. Snider’s class.
This task was asked this year by the Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas. Ms. Snider and her student follow the guidelines from Monarch Watch, which uses its scientific data to determine the monarch butterfly's migration process, beginning with their migration to the mountains of Michoacan, Mexico.
“Monarch wing length provides information to scientists about larval (caterpillar) development and has been related to migration success,” Ms. Snider reported. “In order to gather more information about fall migration and inform conservation efforts, this year Monarch Watch is asking taggers to also measure butterfly wing length.”
On the afternoon of Wednesday, September 16, Ms. Snider and her students brought three monarch butterflies—tagged and measured—into an outdoor courtyard at the Middle School and released them into the sunny, blue skies for their trip to Mexico.