Chesley Bonestell, “The Exploration of Mars” (1953), oil on board, 143/8 x 28 inches, gift of William Estler, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Reproduced courtesy of Bonestell LLC.

Protecting Animal Migrations

March 4, 2015

Migratory animals face increasingly perilous times, their challenges magnified by their long journeys. Among examples in the recent news, monarch butterflies, which commute annually between North America and Mexico, have just been added for consideration for protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, while elephants, which wander across vast spaces of Africa, were lost in record numbers to poaching last year. But a specialist in the conservation of biodiversity has argued in Issues that timely international action can save many of the great animal migrations, gaining aesthetic, ecological, and economic rewards.