The Nature of Idaho: Project Monarch

In this episode of The Nature of Idaho, hosts Dr. Leif Tapanila and Peter Pruett discuss a recent German study revealing that jumping spiders exhibit REM-like sleep stages, before welcoming Dr. David James from Washington State University to discuss his research with Project Monarch. Dr. James explains how monarchs respond to late-summer daylight shifts to begin their long southward migrations, noting that autumn-born non-reproductive butterflies live up to ten months to complete the journey. He highlights a revolutionary tracking breakthrough using ultralight, solar-powered 60 mg tags that ping passersby's smartphones via Bluetooth, revealing that Idaho monarchs often migrate southeast through cities like Salt Lake City rather than heading to coastal California. The hosts and Dr. James discuss "Molly," an Idaho-released monarch that flew 840 miles to the Mexico border, and encourage listeners to track migrating butterflies or sponsor transmitters through the Project Monarch app and the Adopt-a-Monarch program.