For years, park rangers and conservationists working around Mexico’s Nevado de Toluca volcano chased rumors of a monarch butterfly colony that wintered high in a forest of oyamel firs in some corner of the 132,000-acre (53,419-hectare) national reserve.
Local woodsmen would report seeing some of the butterflies fluttering about and scouting teams would scramble to trek into the forest.
They eventually narrowed their search to a swath of communal lands more than 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) above sea level on the northwestern side of the park, but still couldn’t find the colony . . .
