What are Tags?

Tags are little pieces of paper that stick to a Monarch Butterfly's colorful wing. Did you know that scientists have tagged many butterflies so that they can tell one butterfly from another? If you have never seen one that is tagged, it has a number called a serial number. A scientist writes a number on the tag. The tag says to send the butterfly to a lab when found. At that lab, they find out different things about that butterfly. They can find out how fast the butterfly was flying, (if you write when and where you found it) which direction the butterfly was going, and how far the butterfly flew. People and scientists have tagged about 5,000 butterflies.

Some people make homemade tags out of sticky paper, like address labels. Some work well and some don't. People have camps where children learn about butterflies and learn how to tag. Butterflies are beauty on wings, so I hope you help save them!