Neurobiology Of Monarch Butterfly Migration

The annual migration of the monarch butterfly is one of the most beautiful and spectacular sights in the world.

Millions of monarch butterflies migrate from as far as Canada to Mexico each year and are able to navigate their way their without every having been there before.

Another astonishing aspect of the journey is it takes 4 generations of monarch butterflies to complete the journey, and each generation has to pick up the journey where the previous generation left off.

It is hypothesized monarch butterflies use a time-compensated sun compass to fly south. It is a system where the circadian clock compensates for the sun’s movement which give directional queues to the monarch butterflies.

This navigational ability is fixed within the genome of the monarch butterfly and is expressed through the interaction of their neurobiology, the earth, and the sun.