[Aztlan] The Incredible Journey of the Butterflies

[Elaine Schele]

If any of you have every been curious or astounded by the migration of
these little creatures from Canada to Central Mexico you will enjoy
this video and never wonder again why the ancient people of Mexico
thought that butterflies were stoic and wonderful little creatures.

Original PBS Broadcast Date: January 27, 2009

Orange-and-black wings fill the sky as NOVA charts one of nature's
most remarkable phenomena: the epic migration of monarch butterflies
across North America. NOVA's filmmakers followed monarchs on the wing
throughout their extraordinary odyssey. To capture a butterfly's point
of view, camera operators used a helicopter, ultralight, and hot-air
balloon for aerial views along the butterflies' transcontinental
route. (Learn more about the production techniques and adventure of
traveling with the monarchs in an interview with Director Nick de
Pencier.)

The film opens with caterpillars munching milkweed in southern Canada
in late summer. Soon each caterpillar transforms itself into a silky
chrysalis. Roughly 10 days later, a delicate four-winged monarch
emerges.

Then, at some unknown signal, the monarchs take to the air on a
two-month, 2,000-mile flight over fields, forests, cities, plains,
open water, deserts, and finally mountains to congregate in a tiny,
high-altitude region of central Mexico where they've never been
before. Incredibly, they arrive by the millions at the same time each
year.

To see the video go to:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/butterflies/program.html. Press the
"Quicktime" button for the better resolution. It lasts about one hour.
(The Windows Media Player doesn't seem to work very well)

The program is in 6 chapters or you can press "view all" after Quicktime starts.

Elaine
-- 
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