This Parasite is Cramping The Monarch Butterfly’s Style | Deep Look

[@teainnit27]

Fun fact: when butterflies are going through metamorphosis their entier body turns into a goo with it's brian floating in it, and then it reasambles it self into a butterfly shape. Pretty wild if you ask me.

[@aimeewillis708]

Your sayings pre butterflies are slime?

[@CeeJMantis]

I heard that previously myself, but it turns out that that is incorrect

[@SnakeDude.]

@@aimeewillis708 Basically! They turn into mush as they metamorphosise, completely changing practically everything about themselves, yet keeping their caterpillar memories, strangely enough.

[@xDaniel.S]

@@SnakeDude. does that mean that we ourselves are also nothing but the memories in our brain?

[@caedovos]

@@CeeJMantis which part is untrue? the definition of 'slime'? Just curious

[@thechickenwizard8172]

Thank you so much for making this! I only learned about OE a few months ago, but since then I've cut down my tropical milkweed bushes and replaced them with native varieties, and am currently working on planting more native plants in my garden. Its so important for people to know the important of native plants, and how planting invasive/non natives can have significant impacts on wildlife.

[@KQEDDeepLook]

Glad it was helpful!

[@fuxan]

Thank you! Growing native plants is vitally important and the best decision I've made in my life to convert our entire yard to 100% native plants and zero turf grass...lots of biodiversity.

[@Velkhana_The_Myth]

It's quite sad how these beautiful butterflies are unable to show their colours due to that protozoan. It is multiplying too much! Hopefully we can decrease the amount of them so it wouldn't harm the butterflies anymore! They aren't even able to to fly! And here I thought that being poisonous would deter anything from harming them :(. besides, they are threatened! So glad people are making efforts to help them! Edit: guys stop harassing me i didn't know. Let me change it.

[@yalanyalan698]

It's quite sad how this amazing fungus gets talked down by the likes of u

[@Velkhana_The_Myth]

@@yalanyalan698 what?

[@hejgustavful]

Ophryocystis elektroscirrha is a protozoan not a fungus.

[@Velkhana_The_Myth]

@@hejgustavful it said spores. i got confused. also i thought only some plants and all fungi produced it. thx for info tho.

[@Kamila.k]

@@yalanyalan698 trol

[@Cytrillex]

The footage in this episode is absolutely incredible! The detail on the egg that gets eaten by the newborn caterpillar is so so cool. You folks behind Deep Look clearly put a ton of time into getting these macro shots and I'm just amazed that it's freely available on the internet.

[@BestMods168]

And they were trying to blame us for the reduced population of the monarchs. Most likely it was one of the scientists who brought in the parasite when they planted the milkweeds.

[@TragoudistrosMPH]

It's distressing just how many ripple effects invasive species cause... Especially when well meaning people accidentally cause the problem. The information is extra important.

[@Sentarry]

I saw at least 1 monarch this past September and I was surprised to see one here in Southern California while on my evening walk. I remember growing up in the late 90s to 00's and seeing them around quite often in my elementary school. It's quite sad to see why they've become less common in my area maybe for this reason. I'll definitely get some native milkweed and put some in my backyard ☺️ I love seeing Monarch Butterflies a plenty.

[@KQEDDeepLook]

Thanks, Sentarry!

[@jasonplatco7881]

1 big thing killing them off is the herbicide roundup. Milkweed is real sensitive to it. And as it washes off people's sidewalks and lawns in to the drainage systems it contaminates the land and kills off the milkweed all along the way.

[@davidt8087]

@@KQEDDeepLook that voice 🤮🤮

[@kawaiipurplesaphire6163]

Brow that Voice over 😬

[@ByakuganWhite]

Be cautious if you have pets. Milkweed is poisonous.

[@BlueyChafalitaPosting]

It's always so fascinating when a new Deep Look vid gets upload, monarch butterflies are amazing, i love watching them here in Mexico, hopefully something is done to stop that infection

[@frogglen6350]

Ah deep look. My favorite channel to watch for disturbing aspects of nature

[@williamcozart8158]

One good thing is more and more people know about the relationship between the monarchs and milkweed and people are leaving milkweed patches for the butterflies rather than mowing it down, and I have seen more (wild)milkweed around here in Michigan this year than I have seen in quite a few years.

[@WolfGuy100]

As a guy who enjoy watching Monarch butterfly going thru life stages, this sadden me. I have never ever knew that monarch butterflies would come down with this horrible parasite that would harm them or cripple them. I'll be sure to find some native milkweeds and plant them in the backyard once they're back in season :)

[@huldu]

So basically the milkweed and that parasite have a "mutualistic" relationship when it comes to fighting off these butterflies(or rather their caterpillars that eat the milkweed)? It's never really black and white when it comes to nature, there are so many nuances. It's very fascinating.

[@keiko3099]

i encourage ordering seeds and live plants from joyfulbutterfly (just search that site up!) natives are a lot harder to find in nurseries cause either they have pesticides or they just dont carry them because theyre not "Showy" enough or die down in the winter.. anyways joyfulbutterfly is where i get mine from (i have 30 plants!) and they can even show you yours according to your state!

[@alexvasquez5053]

So many reasons to only plant native species. We don't always realize the cascade of effects that can happen until decades later.

[@jakimiyamizu3198]

Thankyou as always deeplook for this video!!! Love it and Keep it up!!!

[@KQEDDeepLook]

You are welcome, JAKI! Our next video will be about 🐝 yellowjackets, in November. Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss it!

[@jakimiyamizu3198]

@@KQEDDeepLook looking forward to it🥰🥰🥰

[@thatweirdartist9852]

I was on a walk a few days ago with my grandma and saw a milkweed with some seed pods so we grabbed one to plant it in our butterfly garden so I’m hoping it will work. If you have any tips on growing milkweed let me know!

[@yanj111]

milkweed is a very tough plant, here in Chicago, milkweed survives the coldest winter and dry summer without any problem. as long as the seeds are spread, they will grow the second year.

[@OutdoorLonghair]

Sow the seeds in the fall, they need to cold moist stratify and will do so over the winter. Good luck.

[@aprilmeowmeow]

i would love a full deep look documentary one day. these videos are written and narrated very well :)

[@gaygengar]

i live in Canada and each summer i raise monarch caterpillars into butterflies. there aren't many cases of OE where i live, but i've definitely seen a few (usually a couple each year) & had to euthanize the sick butterflies to help mitigate the spread. i also make sure to rinse any milkweed before feeding it to the caterpillars, and i make sure none of the adult butterflies emerge from their chrysalis over or near the caterpillar enclosure. i know the area i live isn't really where the parasite typically spreads a bunch, but i still try to do my part to keep it out of the breeding population to raise as many healthy butterflies as possible. many people don't know about OE though, since it can only really be seen under a microscope, so videos like this are very important to spread awareness. 👍 even I didn't know about the issues with tropical milkweed in warm climates, though to be fair it gets to -40 C in the winter here so it isn't exactly something i have to worry about! 😅 luckily i have abundant amounts of native milkweed that grow here, so i never have to buy non-native varieties anyways.

[@AllFiery]

“It breaks *FREE* from its chrysalis”

[@PushyPawn]

Poor things are dealing with a pandemic too.

[@crimsoncraft1778]

Wow, seeing the cycle of a monarch butterfly upclose is just soo mesmerizing! Good stuff, Deep Look!

[@marko3502]

What would happen if we helped one of them out of their chrysalis? Would we only hurt them?

[@Velkhana_The_Myth]

Oh yes it would! The butterflies use the force from pushing itself out of the chrysalis to pump its wings full of blood to make them big! If you removed them, their wings would be small and weak as they used no pressure to get out of the chrysalis

[@marko3502]

@@Velkhana_The_Myth thanks!!

[@kissit012]

Duh

[@namdo10]

Your videos never disappointed me! Thank you! Let’s hope scientists can figure out something to help those beautiful 🦋

[@sfrosegrower]

Let's put pressure on big box stores that sell tropical milkweed. Customers assume it's safe.

[@OptimusPrime218.]

I've been the Monarch Paradise in Michoacan, MX. Let me tell you it is such a beautiful sight. Everytime I travel to Michoacan I go. It's absolutely beautiful!!! 🦋

[@LECHEDUMFUK]

Is the timing and title "Monarch" somehow an homage to the queen's recent passing?

[@Amber12332]

I raise monarch caterpillars on the native milkweed that I grow in my yard for them (NOT TROPICAL). I had a pretty successful year this year I released 52 butterflies I was actually surprised I had that many because of all the hardships monarchs face. I bring them in as eggs because of pest that eat them and tactic flies they will lay their eggs in monarchs and when the caterpillar is nice and chunky the larvae basically split the caterpillar open eating it from the inside out😔 I hope we don't lose something so beautiful. 🐛🐛🦋🦋🌿🌿

[@amjay98]

Love from India 🇮🇳🇮🇳 and congratulations for achieving 2 million milestone...👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@Nyax50Lopez]

Kinda sad that they almost hit endangered levels during the Monterrey, Mexico freezing temperatures which it was a very harsh hit for everyone. I think it was in 2017 or 2018. It made me sad and thankfully many people are getting milkweed plants

[@theknightba6bo6_45]

OMG thank you deep look 4 these informations

[@KQEDDeepLook]

You bet.

[@luchang2148]

For the sake of the species of butterfly, Perhaps that tropical milkweed should be outlawed. Stop merchant from selling them...

[@imberrysandy]

This video is very timely. I'm going to a California Native Plants convention next week. Im definitely talking about and showing this video around, esp in the identifying pathogens workshop

[@KQEDDeepLook]

Please do!

[@meganium131]

This last week, I was lucky to spot a tagged monarch outside at my work. I didn't use to live in the main migration path so I don't know how common they are in my area but I was so excited that I dropped what I was doing to report it online. It felt like finding a unicorn.

[@CrankyPantss]

That was very interesting. I hope the word gets spread.

[@WarChallenger]

Thank you for posting this information! We raise black swallowtail caterpillars here, but were wanting to start planting milkweed for monarchs as well, since they occasionally fly into our yard as well. This is good stuff to know for when we begin!

[@TheReaperHazard]

I work on campus and never knew this was here!!! I'm doing to go take a look!!

[@atomicsamurai8967]

What's wrong with... well.. everything? Me: humans.

[@janeeyre80]

Everyone should share this this is so sad

[@skoonthatraccoonskunkguy3865]

I found out about these parasites the hard way, my encloser had the the chrysali above the caterpillars and had a full batch of wrinkled wing butterflies... See, as I found out, when they emerge is when the parasites fall off the wings in droves, these parasites are actually reletively "normal" just like we have various fauna on our skin, that if out of control, could hurt us as well. But because my caterpillars, and more importantly, their food supply was getting dusted regularly it caused a build up way out of control.

[@clayka012]

I wonder if this why many suggest disinfecting enclosures between each batch of caterpillars. I haven't done that, but did have more issues this year in the past with with wrinkled wings, one butterfly that emerged as goo, and one that only partially emerged. We also do plant tropical in our yard (Michigan) along with several native, but the tropical never grows back because of freeze/frost and subzero temps. We always start with new tropical plants from seeds we cultivate ourselves .

[@skoonthatraccoonskunkguy3865]

@@clayka012 sounds plausable, also part of why I decided to stop using my old enclosure, made it when I was a kid and its made of wood and metal screen, can be cleaned, but kind of a hassel. I should probably fully redesign it some time, was pretty proud of itnin my teens.

[@piligarcia3239]

Deep Look with another upload :) I like monarch butterflies 🦋 but this reminds me of the fly zombie

[@antoniebek7027]

Really cool!

[@renatocann5142]

Love that it ended with something actionable, great vid as always DL!

[@TightyWhiteyTrash]

Thanks for the new videos Deep Look!

[@theseventhgeneration6910]

I used to give tropical milkweed seeds away to protect the population.

[@alpacaofthemountain8760]

Love Monarchs, hopefully next summer I can plant a healthy patch of native milkweed

[@LazyTallGuy]

Oof that was hard to watch for some reason, seeing the butterfly just decimated like that! Thanks for bringing this to my attention as I had no idea about this parasite.

[@mclarenf1gtr99]

Always love a scary invisible parasite story.

[@highrunner3902]

thats why countries forbid transfer of non-native species to export/leave. nature's structure is very delicate

[@zacharywong483]

Spectacular footage and great video Deep Look team!

[@Lacocacolaman]

Every November I cut my milkweed but I tried growing native milkweed. it's insanely difficult. if it weren't for the tropical milkweed I think these things would be extinct. Thanks to the tropical milkweed my grandmother probably raised over 1000 caterpillars.

[@james4thedoctor482]

Dang; time to grab my clippers…

[@chilicats]

Always plant native stuff, help a wild neighbor!

[@LinkedMember]

I really like the recommendations to help the mo arch butterflies; more suggewtions about other life would be amazing!

[@touremuhammad5983]

I’ve seen quite a lot of Monarch Butterflies around here in Richmond lately.

[@ahavarichardson5426]

I learned the red milkweed was a poor choice for monarchs but not sure why so thankful for the information!

[@ashuroraha]

The caterpillar goes to work munching on an empty shell of its old egg 1:24 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 her voice just changes out of no where 😒🤣🤣😅🤣😅🤣😅😅🤣😒🤣😒🤣😒🤣😒🤣😒🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@effective_cmpote]

He had a can of Olde E and some raisins.

[@nivajaranjit4322]

even they are endangered now

[@zerobahamut03]

This was so informative. Thank you.

[@stephaniebragg3081]

Yikes. I planted the tropical in my yard in the spring, and two of our monarchs we had in a habitat had deformed wings. Guess I should go take it out of the ground!

[@ReaperGamerYT]

i didn't notice butter flies have fur or hair i thought only moths have them

[@strawberrysproutz]

2:41 blud's skidaddling for her life

[@CarolEPMc]

I have a question. If a monarch's wing morphology, both size and thickness, were reduced due to OE infection, would that reduction in wing size and thickness then become an inherited trait, regardless of whether or not offspring were infested with the OE parasite?

[@famereisaihburgon7430]

Vid idea:"how does a mantis hiss?"

[@Cleeon]

I just know about this fact, makes planting a native species on a different levels.

[@converser]

Nature always has its own plans, it rarely ever needs human intervention, which does more harm than good

[@micliebhart]

parasite is always in different game

[@davidpak271]

Good video, I think in the future tho maybe go into just a little more detail into which milkweed and the solution

[@oneshotme]

Sad to hear with as much problems they are already having right now

[@quitlife9279]

I'm more interested in how protozoans like the parasite form spores, can you do a video on it?

[@JArtsChannel]

Why does the parasite need the butterflies wings deformed? Does it want the butterflies to be eaten so we can grow another animal's stomach? There's a parasite that causes frogs legs to become deformed so herons could catch them easier. The parasite would then start growing in the heron's stomach to start its life cycle over again.

[@evn885]

my school got on the news paper bcus we planted milkweed and did a pbl

[@SweetPotatoDuck]

Bring Laura back as the main voice in the videos again. Doesn't feel quite the same without her :D

[@rdizzleoriginal]

It's usually a good idea to just plant native species no matter where you are.

[@hansices6535]

What happened to Lauren?

[@darthjacobynum573]

Thanks for the information!🥺 let's help our little buddies as much as we can

[@Man_Noob-]

Poor monarch butterfly’s :(

[@richardc6269]

This is incredible. Our touch is felt across the natural world. Sometimes it's soft but most of the time it's like a hammer. When will we learn?? My take is...never.

[@shawntajames6738]

Can we do one on Scale that live on plants?

[@b.c.9358]

When I was in community college, we had a garden full of milkweed and there were a lot of monarch caterpillars that, unfortunately, did not make it to adulthood. I got the wrong milkweed! Time to find the right one.

[@Shinnyuu2]

Idea for a new channel: Deeper Look: Looking at things like bacteria, algae, viruses. “Inner Look” could explore small things inside of our bodies, like our many different cells

[@ToysToolsandTales]

So can we not spray something to kill the spores before they hatch?

[@cheychc]

oh my god the party music lol

[@polic72andDrD3ath]

Love the music in this one! Just in time for the spooky season >:)

[@SILLYYZONE]

This just made me sad :(

[@pearkore6821]

I love parasites so much

[@Tanzim101]

deep respects to deep look

[@honestreviews5410]

Ahhhhhh human inference thinking their actions only have positive effects.. good video

[@jasminejohnston6393]

Here’s a fact: Butterflies can remember things that happened when they were caterpillars, because even though their bodies change their brains don’t and they retain their memories

[@Garl_Vinland]

Me with my "tropical" Playstation 5

[@ItzGargoyle]

Do you have a video covering the dark side of butterflies? (If you know, you know)

[@KQEDDeepLook]

We don't, exactly, but butterflies (and caterpillars!) can be really strange. Here's our playlist! kzbin.info/www/bejne/gorbhayDe56elZY

[@jonathanredacted3245]

Also doesn't help that their southern homes are getting destroyed to build this or that pointless wall

[@Toomuchbullshitt]

They fly over it :p

[@keiko3099]

they can literally fly over forests and freeways. go to pismo beach lol the western monarchs migrate there and the trees are atleast double the height of the wall

[@jonathanredacted3245]

@@Toomuchbullshitt the specific patches they've been using were what the wall was being built on

[@keiko3099]

@@jonathanredacted3245 false, the wall is built primarily on desert and milkweeds can be found throughout central and northern mexico so they will always have plants. if you are speaking about the migration, then maybe do some research because they migrate more inland, almost central, and not to the desert. not to mention you can have these plants in your backyard like the rest of us who probably actually care more then you because the first thing you wanted to talk about was politics on a video about planting native species. someone in a house nearby the border could have the plants

[@fjfrancois]

Is a miracle moment, not magical.

[@richardlynch1094]

Banning GLYPHOSATE will do more for Monarchs than anything.

[@armandomartinez3524]

10mil subs on Deep Look *when?*

[@molybdaen11]

Does the parasite has a secondary host in birds or reptiles? Otherwise it makes no sense to risk death of the own host.

[@Theanimalfarm077]

I have raised and released hundreds of monarchs. This is what i always tell people when they think about raising them. Its not just housing them, giving them food and letting them go. Its about providing yourself with proper knowledge to raise them, otherwise their better off being outside. OE is viscous and so cruel. The best, and only thing you should do for a butterfly with OE is to humanely put them down (freezing is a great humane method where they get put to sleep gently, it is not painful.)

[@Theanimalfarm077]

I do want to add something important: ALL butterflies come out weak with crumpled wings, if it lasts a long time, thats when to worry. After 24 hours you should see them fluttering around with wings straight. I didn’t watch the video yet, but i also want to add you are always better to put a butterfly with OE down because 1, you do not want it to spread or of course it kills off many others. 2, its cruel to let them live. Many come out with a split proboscis (meaning they cannot consume pollen and will starve) others never can fly. Its a horrible thing and again, the best thing you can do is to humanely kill them.

[@ellenkuang8853]

Sorry, but I'm high key frustrated with some of the information in this video. I grow tropical milkweed in my patio garden for the monarchs. Of the 2 dozen I raised this year, I lost half to tachinid flies, but not a single OE. I grew local narrowleaf milkweed 2 years ago, but the problem is that because of climate change, monarchs showed up this year in February. My narrowleaf milkweed was still dormant underground until June. Please tell me how monarchs are supposed to go 4 months without local supply? True, local milkweed dies back in the cold, taking the OE spores away. The same thing happens to the tropical milkweed when all the new growth gets eaten down the sticks and I physically cut the plant down to a stump 3-4x a year and the sticks go to the green bin. Also, the monarchs in Western region where I live annually overwinter along the California coast. So, what would the disruption in migration cycle be? If anything, climate change has been the biggest disruption. Tropical milkweed is the earliest available milkweed in these changing climates for monarchs awakening from diapause early and can be managed responsibly to reduce OE spores. I'm keeping them around.

[@zooemperor3954]

Excellent video and that is truly sad to see

[@IsoyaYasuji]

Hey deep look! Can u make a topic on Cigarette Beetles? I just started to notice these little guys around the house, as i look up on them, theres not much research on them but say like they eat bread but mostly unsure whether or not if they’re a good or bad pests like fleas, bedbugs or cockroaches. Would be appreciated so we can know more about these house pests :3

[@jaikisantv]

Its ecological balance too.

[@pumpkxnz_11]

I'll never plant milkweed ever again D:

[@theworthysoul]

Native milkweed is fine, just avoid the tropical one

[@mark6302]

thats very sad

[@mikesmith7620]

Silly question, were these plants genetically modified? Or are these just a type of plants that just happen to have parasites? Where did these parasites come from?

[@keiko3099]

tropical isnt really genetically modified, however there is some breeding with a native milkweed called butterflyweed (asclepias tuberosa). butterfly typically has pure orange flowers unlike tropical however there are now variants of butterflyweed with yellow flowers, as there is also a strand of tropical milkweed with yellow flowers often called silky gold milkweed. which isnt really that good cause we dont want to mess with these plants! anyways ALL milkeed gets oe, oe has existed since monarchs and milkweed have. the thing is we are allowing them to be in such huge numbers where it is now deadly when in the past they weren't ever. these parasites can be found on all milkweed plants but can be dealt with by cutting leaves and getting new, clean foilage or having a milkweed that dies down