This is a sub-species of the monarch butterfly that travels around 4,000 kilometres across America each year, has been classified ‘endangered’ in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
Monarchs, the most recognisable species of butterfly, are important pollinators and provide various ecosystem services such as maintaining the global food web.
The population of these butterflies has declined by more than 72 percent in the past decade, habitat destruction and climate change are mainly responsible for pushing the insect towards extinction.
The increasing use of pesticides for intensive agriculture is harming the milkweed plant used by these butterflies as food. They breed in only one particular plant-the milkweeds.