The OKC Zoo and Botanical Garden sends this information as posted below:
A new technology making it easier to track monarch butterfly migrations was deployed Saturday, October 4, 2025 at the Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden as part of the Zoo’s Native Species Awareness Day celebration.
OKC Zoo Conservation Scientist Dr. Emily Geest worked with Pollinator Conservation Specialist Dr. Ray Moranz of The Xerces Society to tag six monarch butterflies with new, ultra-light radiotelemetry transmitters.
Tagging monarch butterflies is nothing new for the OKC Zoo and scientific community. For years, OKC Zoo experts and community scientists have used alphanumeric coded stickers from Monarch Watch to record when and where a butterfly is caught and, if that same butterfly was relocated farther along its migration. Hundreds of thousands of traditional monarch sticker tags are distributed each year. Information from those tags is uploaded into a database and has provided important scientific information about the monarch migration for over 30 years.
“These new lightweight radiotelemetry tags are solar powered with Bluetooth technology embedded to allow anyone with a phone to contribute to tracking monarch butterflies,” said Dr. Emily Geest.
The transmitter tags were developed by Cellular Tracking Technologies and Cape May Point Arts & Science Center and weigh just 0.06 grams—light enough that they won’t interfere with the butterflies’ ability to fly.
“We weigh every butterfly before we apply the tag. Smaller butterflies are tagged with the traditional sticker tags rather than the transmitter backpacks,” Geest said. “These tags aren’t that different from the kinds of tags we can use on our keychains or luggage to track their locations, just much, much lighter. This is the first time these new tags have been so widely distributed across the country and they’re already generating a lot of excitement among monarch researchers.”
Each of the six butterflies tagged with transmitters at OKC Zoo are coded XOKC001 through XOKC006 and each butterfly was also given a flower-inspired nickname: Violet, Maximillian, Autumn Sage, Juniper, Bluemist, and Beebalm.
“The amount of information these tags are providing is amazing. I can check in on each butterfly and see that southern winds carried Violet across the Cimarron River, while Beebalm found a dog park to hang in for a few hours in Edmond.”
In 2024, Dr. Moranz received one of the OKC Zoo’s CARE grants for $5,000, which he used to study monarchs in the southeastern U.S. During this research he was trained to use the state-of-the-art radio tags, and chose Oklahoma City Zoo as one of the locations to deploy the tags.
“I’m very thankful to the Zoo for providing me with a grant that enabled me to use these tags for my monarch research in Florida last winter,” said Dr. Moranz. That experience positioned me to become part of the Project Monarch Collaborative, an international project studying monarch migration.”
Anyone can track the progress of the tagged butterflies using the Project Monarch Science app for Apple and Android or online at www.capemaypointsciencecenter.org/project-monarch.
“These tags really allow us to collect more data than ever before,” Geest said. “The more we understand about the migration of monarch butterflies, the better we can plan conservation strategies to ensure the species’ survival.”
Monarch butterflies are an iconic sight throughout North America, but the species is in peril as their population has declined by 90 percent in the last 30 years because of habitat loss, pesticides, and climate change. The OKC Zoo is committed to conserving insect pollinator populations, including monarchs, and their habitat though various initiatives aimed at research, conservation education, and awareness. The Zoo encourages nature enthusiasts to take action to help monarchs and other pollinators through every day actions and activities found at www.okczoo.org/pollinator-activities.
The Oklahoma City Zoo’s regular daytime hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily with the last entry at 4 p.m. Avoid the entry lines and purchase advance Zoo admission tickets online at okczoo.org/tickets. Located at the crossroads of I-44 and I-35, the OKC Zoo is a proud member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the American Alliance of Museums, and Oklahoma City’s Adventure District.
Stay connected with the Zoo on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, Linktree and TikTok, and by visiting our blog stories. Zoo more with a ZOOfriends membership! As a ZOOfriends member of the Oklahoma City Zoo, enjoy free admission for 12-months, plus additional benefits and discounts. You will also be supporting the Zoo’s animal family, education programming, and conservation initiatives both locally and globally. Join or renew today at www.okczoo.org/membership.
About The Xerces Society:
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation is a donor-supported nonprofit organization that protects our world through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitats. Learn more at Xerces.org.
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