World Heritage Identification Number: 1290
World Heritage since: 2008
Category: Natural Heritage
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇲🇽 Mexico
Continent: Americas
UNESCO World Region: Latin America and the Caribbean
Map
The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve: A Natural Wonder of the World
The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR) is a unique and captivating natural wonder located in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine-oak forests ecoregion, on the border of Michoacán and the State of Mexico, approximately 100 kilometers northwest of Mexico City. This extraordinary site was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008, recognizing its exceptional importance for biological diversity conservation.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
The 56,259 ha biosphere lies within rugged forested mountains about 100 km northwest of Mexico City. Every autumn, millions, perhaps a billion, butterflies from wide areas of North America return to the site and cluster on small areas of the forest reserve, colouring its trees orange and literally bending their branches under their collective weight. In the spring, these butterflies begin an 8 month migration that takes them all the way to Eastern Canada and back, during which time four successive generations are born and die. How they find their way back to their overwintering site remains a mystery.
Encyclopedia Record: Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve
The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve is a World Heritage Site containing most of the overwintering sites of the eastern population of the monarch butterfly. The reserve is located in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine-oak forests ecoregion on the border of Michoacán and State of Mexico, 100 km, northwest of Mexico City. Millions of butterflies arrive in the reserve annually. Butterflies only inhabit a fraction of the 56,000 hectares of the reserve from October–March. The biosphere's mission is to protect the butterfly species and its habitat.Additional Site Details
Area: 13,551.55 hectares
Coordinates: 19.6063888889 , -100.2416666667
Image
© Solo se puede ser libre Cuándo no se tiene nada que perder from Mexico D.F., México, CC BY 2.0 Resized from original.
