One of the most iconic, culturally significant, & beautiful creatures of Mexico...

...is facing extinction. It's not all bad news, however, as doing your part to help the monarch populations has never been easier. The first step to saving the monarchs is learning the basics! Below are a list of facts to help you better understand the butterfly responsible to one of Mexico's greatest wonders. 

• Monarch Butterflies qualify as endangered, but are not being added to the endangered list despite the depletion of many populations of monarch butterflies. 
  
  
• The Monarch Butterflies gather in the millions at the Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico, a forest of oyamel fir trees covered in orange butterflies during the fall. 

• The forest is a critical shelter for the entire population of monarchs and is in danger of deforestation. 

• In the spring, the butterflies being their 8 month, 3,000 mile migrations through the US and into Eastern Canada, where 4 new generations of butterflies come and go. 
  
  
• Come fall and winter, the new generation of butterflies find their way back to the same forest in Mexico to repeat the cycle. How exactly they know where to go is still a wonder. 
  
  
• Monarch caterpillars rely on milkweed plants to survive. Caterpillars can eat an entire milkweed leaf in under 5 minutes, and up to 200x their own weight!

WHAT MORE CAN WE DO?

The good news is, there are many conservation efforts out right now asking and acting on that same question! You don't need to run a biosphere or raise a far of butterflies, either. Simply buying from La Monarca Bakery means that 1% of those proceeds go directly to our partner Ecolife to protect & preserve the monarch butterfly. 

Business Insider, LA Weekly, Eater LA, and We Like LA have already taken notice, citing our partnership with Ecolife Conservation as a core element of the company. Every single one of our guests participates in the fight to Save the Monarchs.

1. Ecolife.com/Conservation
2. whc.unesco.org/ButterflyBiosphere
3. worldheritageoutlook.iucn.org/Biosphere
4. smithsonianmag.com/Monarchs