Aldergrove鈥檚 Vancouver Zoo staff are pretty psyched about some insects.

But not just any bugs. In particular, they鈥檙e sharing what they call 鈥渁mazing鈥� news about their Taylor鈥檚 Checkerspot Butterfly program.

For the past five years, the zoo has been involved in a recovery program for the Taylor鈥檚 (also known as Edith鈥檚) Checkerspot butterfly (TCB), and those efforts are paying off, said biologist Andrea Gielens, with Wildlife Preservation Canada and the conservation corner at the zoo.

The team 鈥渋s excited to share some great news,鈥� she chirped.

She and the recovery team just returned earlier late last month from a trip to Helliwell Provincial Park on Hornby Island in the Straight of Juan de Fuca, for the latest release of about 400 larvae.

While they marvelled at spotting sea lions and orcas just off shore during the release, that wasn鈥檛 the highlight of the trip.

鈥淥ur continued release efforts have resulted in the reintroduction release of more than 9,000 Taylor鈥檚 Checkerspot larva into this habitat over the past five years, and we are excited to announce that for this first time since the mid 鈥�90s 鈥� more than 25 years ago 鈥� there have been Checkerspots able to complete their entire life cycle on Hornby Island,鈥� she said, speaking to the milestone.

Prior to this year, the recovery team had not been able to observe TCB larvae active after their winter butterfly hibernation, prior to what she called their 鈥渆arly spring release of the subsequent group of ex-situ bred animals. This meant it was hard to tell, for sure, that the animals we were observing later in the spring were animals that bred onsite or were the animals we had just released,鈥� Gielens explained.

鈥淭hanks to increased numbers, favourable weather, and the incredible work of field crews, the first confirmed overwintered animals were found, en mass, this spring.鈥�

She confirmed more than 200 larvae were found, 鈥渨hich is a testament both to our released animals and the search effort and skills of the field crew.鈥�

This summer, the zoo will have staff out assisting field crews to do more extensive surveys and hopefully collect more animals for a fresh breeding population of , which will produce more larva for release in summer 2025 or spring 2026.

鈥淪o this is great news for our project,鈥� Gielens concluded.

鈥淚t鈥檚 ultimately what we wanted to see from all the work that we鈥檝e been doing over the last few years. And what we look forward to in the future is continuing to see that population thrive, and to be able to start new populations, to make sure this species of butterfly stays in Canada.鈥�

For more about the project,

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