Turns out this is one of there crossing spots of Lake Michigan in September to venture to Mexico. I was amazed at how many there were. Very cool. I had taken care of 60 butterflies in the summer time.
I did it in the months of june july and let them go after they truned into butterflies. I thought that video was amazing!! The monarch butterfly is awesome!! Moon Phase Calendar. Email Facebook 71 Pinterest Twitter.
How much do you know about the monarch butterfly? These 10 facts will amaze! The caterpillar hatches from its egg several days later and survives on these milkweed leaves. The monarch caterpillar and adult butterfly retain the poison from the milkweed leaves in its body, thus protecting it from being eaten by predators. Every spring, adult monarch butterflies head north from their winter respite in the southern forests of Mexico and California, and return in the fall—a journey some 2,,miles each way!
The monarch butterfly will continue to feed, fly, and reproduce throughout the U. It is the fourth generation of monarch butterflies that actually migrate to Mexico in fall. Monarch butterflies travel as much as miles a day during its 3,mile migration south. During its migration, each butterfly relies on the huge volume of food it ate when it was a caterpillar for fuel.
Monarchs smell with their antennae. Nectar and water are tasted by the sensory hairs on their legs and feet. Monarch butterflies cannot bite, and drink through a long tongue called a proboscis that works like an eyedropper drawing up nectar. Did You Know? Monarch fall and spring migration patterns. Why are Monarchs Important? Threats Monarchs are threatened by deforestation of wintering forests in Mexico, disruptions to their migration caused by climate change, and the loss of native plants including milkweed species but also all nectar-producing native plants along their migratory corridors.
Biopolis , which brings together citizens and conservationists to help protect and enhance urban biodiversity in Montreal. Go Wild Community Grants , which fund groups and individuals working to restore habitat, monitor species at risk, protect biodiversity and generate solutions to the conservation challenges facing their communities. Go Wild School Grants , which fund educational, hands-on projects that give students the opportunity to help nature and wildlife in their communities.
What You Can Do The remarkable fall migration from Southern Canada all the way to Central Mexico is actually dependent on sugars energy produced mostly by the late-flowering species of asters and goldenrods — an amazing alignment of timing, without which the monarchs would have no energy source to make that spectacular long-distance migration.
Steps you can take to help monarch butterflies: Plant milkweed: Common milkweed Asclepias syriaca — grows in well-drained soil Butterfly milkweed Asclepias tuberosa — grows in well-drained soil Swamp milkweed Asclepias incarnata — grows well in damper conditions but also in regular gardens Plant butterfly-friendly flowers: Pale purple coneflower Echinacea pallida Black-eyed Susan Rudbeckia hirta New England Aster Symphyotrichum novae-angliae.
Related Species. Donate Monthly. Donate Once. Other Amount. In the fifth instar, when they are three inches long, they can eat a milkweed leaf in five minutes.
By the time they are ready to pupate, Monarch Butterfly caterpillars can be more than 20 times as long and be described as times as big as they were when they hatched. Monarch Butterfly caterpillars excrete digested plant material, which is called frass. People who rear them in cages have to clean the cages every two or three days. Monarch Butterflies do not make cocoons.
They do make silk. Before pupating they spin a little band of silk to cling to while waiting for their caterpillar skins to drop off, leaving a green inner skin called the chrysalis to harden around the caterpillar inside.
The Monarch Butterfly chrysalis looks more like a big bead or a rolled-up leaf than like a living animal; this probably helps to discourage predators from eating it. Monarch Butterfly wings are mostly orange with black stripes along the veins. Male Monarch Butterflies can be recognized by a black spot on the upper surface of the hind wing, which female Monarch Butterflies do not have.
Monarch Butterflies do not have lungs, but have tiny vents called spiracles along the sides of the thorax and abdomen. Air enters the spiracles and is dispersed through the body by microscopic tubes called tracheae. Monarch Butterfly wings usually span about 10 centimeters a little over 4 inches.
Monarchs usually weigh 0. It would take about 50 butterflies to weigh one ounce. Monarch Butterflies apparently see all the colors we see and at least one more; they seem to see ultraviolet light.
Butterflies have very keen senses of smell, and Monarchs seem to smell chemicals discharged from glands in their wings. Scent probably helps them avoid places where other Monarchs are or have been, except when they are looking for mates. When play-fighting Monarchs, unlike other butterflies, may actually make contact; the bigger butterfly may knock the smaller one to the ground.
This does not harm the smaller butterfly. Monarchs approach one another when they are about to mate or hibernate, so play-fighting is probably a courtship behavior.
Female Monarch Butterflies lay one egg at a time, each egg on a separate milkweed plant if possible. Some have laid eggs in one day. People who rear Monarch Butterflies in captivity have counted the total numbers of eggs laid by different females.
The highest number reported so far was
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