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Monarch Butterflies Feed on Flowers in Montreal, Quebec

4,651 views · Published 28 August 2012 · 1:56 · Indexed 5 October 2026

Channel: Melvin Wei · 2012 · Pets & Animals

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The monarch butterfly, or Danaus plexippus, is the most well known butterfly in North America due to its remarkable 10 cm wingspan and its striking warning coloration patterns. It is a milkweed butterfly of the family Nymphalidae that acquires its poison and bad taste from milkweed plants as caterpillars. The monarch is the only butterfly that regularly migrates north and south as birds do to escape the brutal northern winters, but does not do so in one generation. Monarch butterflies in the eastern half of North America migrate to Mexico for the winter, while the western butterflies migrate to the central Californian coast. These migrations exceed the typical two month lifespan of butterflies born in early summer, so the butterflies reproduce and lay eggs in their new host lands along the migration routes. The last generation of monarch butterflies in late summer enter a non-reproductive phase called diapause and can live as butterflies (adults) for seven months. Monarchs in diapause reproduce in late winter in their southern migratory destinations. Monarchs generally head northward in April. Monarch butterflies in Hawaii do not migrate. It is thought that each antennae hold complete magnetic sensing systems that allow the butterflies to navigate their migratory routes in relation to the magnetic poles of the Earth.

Personally, I find it hard to understand the need for such long migration routes. Perhaps this strategy has proven to maximize the population of this species over time relative to staying put in temperate and tropical climates.

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