Photojournalist Diana Cervantes has spent years documenting the critically endangered Sacramento Mountains checkerspot butterfly. In December her photos and videos were part of a story in The New York Times, “They’re Trying to Find a Mate for This Very Lonely Caterpillar.” It was great to have Cervantes back on the podcast to talk about the butterfly, being a compassionate photojournalist in an era of extinction, and more.
Head over to Instagram and follow her at @dee_sea_photo and see all of her images and videos, including of the butterfly and caterpillar — and the scientists studying and trying to protect the Sacramento Mountains checkerspot butterfly.
And if you want to be cool like Diana and Laura, someday you should go see the bat outflight at El Malpais National Monument: https://www.nps.gov/thingstodo/elma-bat-outflight.htmMeanwhile, to hear our 2025 conversation with Cervantes:
Music credits for this show include: Get Through It (Instrumental) by Neu Song and Butterfly Samba (Feat. Dani Catalá) (Instrumental) by Kiabits.
As always, find us on Substack, Spotify or Apple and follow us on Instagram. And if you really want to, you can drop us a note at lesserknownnmpodcast@gmail.com.
Thanks for listening to the Lesser Known New Mexico Podcast!
