Magnificent Transformation And Migration Of The Monarch Butterfly

Monarch butterflies migrate from Canada and northern part of America to Mexico. The migration is one of the most fascinating sights in the world.

The migration consists of hundreds of millions of butterflies along a 3000+ mile trip. The butterflies only live for around 6 weeks but the whole trip can take several months.

Monarchs are able to complete the trip a whole by breeding along the way and then the next generation continues the trip form where the prior generation left off.

Monarchs leave behind the next generation of monarch caterpillars that go through the incredible transformation into the beautiful monarch butterfly.

The monarchs continue to produce generations of butterflies until the reach their wintering grounds in the forests of Mexico.

The journey is a miraculous one because none of the generation have been to the destination before but their genetics directs them to where they need to go.

Monarch Caterpillar

They key to sustaining the monarch migration lies with the monarch caterpillar. The long and grueling migration is accomplished by the through the lifespan of several generations of monarchs.

Monarchs breed along the way during their migration south to Mexico. Most generations of the yearly migrations only have a lifespan of a fews weeks, and the journey takes months.

Each new generation continues the journey from were the previous generation left off. This is an incredible feat because they are able to navigate south to Mexico without ever being to their destination.

Along the way the fragile monarchs die-off and leave a new generation of monarch caterpillars to feed on milkweed and transform from crawling caterpillars into beautiful flying butterflies.

The unfortunate part is the monarch population has been declining for the past 15 year in the U.S. at an alarming rate, due to the decline in milkweed.

Herbicides used to protect GMO and herbicide resistant corn and soybean crop have laid waste to milkweed, which severely reduced the monarch caterpillar’s food source.