GOLF COURSE A HAVEN FOR ENDANGERED BUTTERFLY

             This month launches the start of the plan to kick Schaus Swallowtail Butterfly off the endangered species list. With the help of two Florida keys golf courses, Sombrero Country Club in Marathon and Cheeca Lodge in Islamorada. The butterfly was named in 1911 by a Smithsonian researcher named William Schaus. These butterflies once ranged from north Miami-Dade to Key West. After the mosquito spraying development its population has been declining since the 1980's.
             The species was placed on the endangered list in 1984. By this time fewer than 70 were left. After a pause in spraying the chemicals during mating season and a change in the chemicals, the butterflies began to reappear in the early 1990's. So Tom Emmel a zoologist from UF collected 100 eggs in the summer of 1992. Just in case the species would become extinct due to one chaotic disaster.
             Two months later it happened. Hurricane Andrew hit exactly on the butterfly's remaining habitat; North Key Largo and the islands of Biscayne National Park. Emmel and other researchers only found 17 male butterflies after the disaster. And so they began massive captive propagation program. So far for the past two years researchers have discovered 1,200 insects. When the butterflies reach 2,000 they can be taken off the endangered list.
             Now we're looking for a place for the insects to live. So they can eat and a place for them to live. The swallowtails prefer lime and torchwood trees. So now The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the U.S. Golf Association are working together. The USGA gave the researchers a $55,000 grant and the two Keys golf courses to plant butterfly friendly trees later this month.
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