Science

Where have all the butterflies gone?

  • Colias hyale, the pale clouded yellow (picture alliance /Nothegger, A./WILDLIFE)

    Delicate creatures

    Across the globe, butterflies are under threat. According to the German Wild Animal Foundation, the number of butterfly and moth species present in Germany has halved over the last 30 years. For diurnal butterflies, that decline is nearer 70 percent. This photo shows Colias hyale, which was selected as Germany's "butterfly of the year" in 2017.

  • Butterfly on a flower (picture-alliance/dpa/R. Weihrauch)

    Sweet juice

    Butterflies adore the sweet sap from flowers and blossoms, and enjoy a broad palate. But plant diversity is dwindling, particularly in regions where intensive monoculture agriculture dominates, which leaves little choice for our beloved butterflies.

  • scarce swallowtail (Iphiclides podalirius) (picture alliance/blickwinkel/S. Ott)

    Butterflies don't like pesticides

    Crop protection products like herbicides and pesticides destroy biodiversity. Wild herbs, plants or flowers can't survive in areas with monoculture farming. In many parts of Germany, the scarce Swallowtail butterfly pictured here was once a common sight, but has now vanished from the landscape.

  • Bee on a flower (picture-alliance/K. Nowottnick)

    Insects are dying off

    The big problem is that pesticides aren't only harming butterflies. Studies show that some regions have seen 80 percent decline in insect numbers compared to 30 years before. Bees, bumblebees, dragonflies, wasps, flies, bugs and butterflies - they all struggle to survive in our intensive-agricultural world of pesticides and fertilizers.

  • European bee eater (picture-alliance/blickwinkel/McPHOTO/A. Trunk)

    Not enough to eat

    A recent study shows that bird numbers are also in a decline. One reason: They can't find enough insects for food. The population of northern lapwings in Germany, for example, is estimated to have shrunk by 80 percent between 1990 and 2013. The number of whinchats has dwindled by 63 percent and black-tailed godwits by 61 Prozent.

  • Samia cynthia, ailanthus silkmoth (picture-alliance/Arco Images/L. Werle)

    A new life in the city?

    Astonishingly, the butterfly decline is particularly obvious in the countryside. In towns and cities butterflies are more numerous. They thrive in parks, on cemeteries, on uncultivated land but even in city centers. Here, they obviously find the plant diversity which they miss in the countryside.


Everyone likes butterflies. They're beautiful and they don't sting or bite us. But these colorful insects have seen a dramatic decline in the past few decades. And the reason why is even more alarming.

  • Date 22.08.2017
  • Author Judith Hartl (/bo)