Mexico’s Monarch Migration

One of earth’s most incredible phenomenon and beautiful sights in the migration of the monarch butterfly from Canada of North America to the forests of Mexico.

The delicate creatures make an annual trip that can be over 3000 miles to hibernate in the forests of the volcanic peaks of Mexico for four months during the winter season.

The trip takes several months to complete and it takes several generations of monarchs to complete the trip because their lifespan is not as long as the trip.

This is another thing that makes the trip so amazing. The butterflies have never been to their final destination but they are able to navigate to the destination.

With so much the monarchs have to overcome to complete their trip, they also have to deal with their numbers dwindling. The monarch have to stop and breed to produce the next generation of butterflies.

They produce eggs the turn in to caterpillars which feed in milkweed, but milkweed is being destroyed at an alarming rate.

Milkweed Destruction

Monarch butterflies make the 3000+ mile journey from as far as Canada to Mexico. The trip takes several generation of monarchs to complete, because the life a a monarch generation can last just a few months and the journey can takes months.

The monarchs breed along the way and the next generation continues the journey south to Mexico. The natural breeding grounds are where the milkweed is because it is the natural food of the monarch caterpillars.

Unfortunately milkweed is being destructed at an alarming rate, which cuts down on the monarch caterpillars food supply.

The caterpillars are voracious eaters and without enough milkweed the caterpillars die off.

Milkweed is being killed off at an alarming rate primarily because of the pesticides used to protect GMO crops, like corn and soybean, effectively destroy milkweed.