In a press release, the zoo says it’s recently started working with the Mitchell’s satyr butterfly, a small brown butterfly that is federally endangered.
According to the zoo, the species joined the Poweshiek skipperling, another endangered butterfly that was being raised at the zoo. The zoo says more than 450 butterflies have been released so far.
“If John Ball Zoo and our partners weren’t doing this work, these species would be extinct,” Bill Flanagan, a conservation manager at John Ball Zoo said in the release. “It’s very rewarding to see the butterflies we raised at the Zoo take flight into the wild.”
The conservation program has been so successful with the Poweshiek skipperling butterfly, that the zoo says that it was contacted by the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service to do similar work with the Mitchell’s Satyr, along with the Kalamazoo Nature Center.
The Zoo is also a part of the Poweshiek Skipperling International Partnership, along with the Fish and Wildlife Service, Michigan State University, Minnesota Zoo, Assiniboine Park Zoo and Michigan Nature Association.
The zoo says it’s raising several hundred Mitchell’s Satyr caterpillars and expects more to hatch soon. The zoo is also managing 30 breeding pairs of the Poweshiek skipperling, as well as 3,000 eggs.
