After sifting through 25 years’ worth of data, a team of scientists have come to a rather surprising conclusion—the monarch butterfly population seems to be increasing.

If true, the findings could rewrite the charismatic insect’s narrative, which has been defined by doom and gloom over the last several decades. To be clear, the monarch butterfly species, Danaus plexippus, overall is still thriving, inhabiting a wide range that includes such diverse places as North Africa and Southeast Asia.

But eastern monarch butterfly populations in North America are different from their kin, because each year they embark on a massive migration from summer grounds in Canada to forests in southwestern Mexico, where they spend the winter. (Read about the