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  • WHERE I WORK

I raise delicate butterflies on the mean streets of New York

Robyn Elman works to protect and conserve monarch butterflies before their dangerous migration down the US East Coast to Mexico.
  1. Jack Leeming
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Robyn Elman with several Monarch butterflies on her outstretched hand as she releases them.

Robyn Elman is an entrepreneur and citizen scientist in Queens, New York. Credit: Karine Aigner/naturepl.com

“Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) are complex creatures, which is part of what makes them so interesting to me. Every breeding season there are four generations of these butterflies. Three live for only a few weeks, but the fourth survives for six to nine months. Some of this generation emerge from their chrysalises here in Queens, New York City, in September or October. They then begin a long migration to Mexico, before restarting their generational cycle and heading north in March or April.

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Nature 630, 522 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01722-0

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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