John Ball Zoo fights for Great Lakes’ rarest butterflies
John Ball Zoo fights for Great Lakes’ rarest butterflies
Rare Butterfly Program staff cover the pupae with panty hose and use color coordinated clips to keep track of them. Inset photo, Conservation staff work to protect butterfly pupae at John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids, MI on June 28, 2025. DONTÉ SMITH/GREAT LAKES NOW
GRAND RAPIDS
Butterfly populations are in decline across the continental U.S., dropping by 22 percent between 2000 and 2020 according to a study in the journal Science. Almost a third of the 342 species studied have seen their numbers fall by more than half.
To help combat that trend, the John Ball Zoo launched its Great Lakes Rare Butterfly Program in 2021 to protect the region’s most threatened species.
