US researchers release 1,300+ butterflies after just nine were found in 2022
Conservationists in Michigan have successfully increased the population of the endangered Poweshiek skipperling butterfly from just nine individuals in 2022 to over 1,300 in 2025. The recovery effort utilized captive breeding and habitat restoration to prevent the species from going extinct.
Why it matters
This success story provides a rare, positive example of how targeted conservation efforts can reverse the decline of endangered insect species.
On a summer day in Michigan, a tiny Poweshiek skipperling butterfly takes flight over a restored prairie. The butterfly is smaller than a quarter, but its return marks a major change for a species once feared to be close to extinction.Researchers at Michigan State University (MSU) and their conservation partners have helped bring the Poweshiek skipperling back from the brink. According to the university, the recovery effort has involved raising the endangered butterflies in captivity, restoring their habitat and releasing them into the wild.Researchers are now seeing hundreds of butterflies at some sites, a major change from the situation in 2022, when only nine Poweshiek skipperlings were found in the wild in the US.“We were actually able to save that species from extinction,” says David Pavlik, a research assistant at MSU's WK Kellogg Biological Station and John Ball Zoo.
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