Thanks to your migrations. Although no single butterfly has ever completed the entire 3,200-kilometer journey, several generations collectively cover that distance per year. True to the saying, “Alone makes no man,” millions of monarch butterflies gather together in one of the most impressive spectacles in nature...
(25 photos)
Charming nature...
In North America, these butterflies begin their grand annual journey in August. Monarchs "refuel" with nectar in the northern American states and Canada, after which it is time to hit the road, as the coming winter will inevitably lead to their death from the cold
Unlike their ancestors, these butterflies have not yet flown more than a few hundred meters in their lives, however, they do not hesitate to take flight over the wide northern lakes. This is just the first stage of one of the largest migrations in the world.
Soon, individuals flying from all over North America unite with each other. Butterflies from areas east of the Rocky Mountains head to Mexico, while butterflies from the west head to California, especially to the coniferous forests near Santa Cruz and Pacific Grove. This is where the incredible spectacle takes place.
When the butterflies arrive at their destination, a lucky few humans get to see countless monarchs hanging from every branch. Monarchs come here because, although there are frosts here, they are not as deadly to butterflies as in the north. Local conditions are ideal for wintering (in other words, hibernation)
While it is certainly safer to be in a crowd, hibernating butterflies are easy prey for predators, despite the fact that monarchs are poisonous. Some birds have learned to tear off the poisonous parts of butterflies and eat the rest. Every year, birds eat hundreds of thousands of butterflies and displace even more from their habitats, but this is unlikely to have the same impact on butterfly populations as, say, deforestation
Those butterflies that have fallen from the branches must rise back as soon as possible - this is a matter of life and death. Their wings vibrate to warm their flight muscles and lift them up before they freeze on the ground. Those who managed to survive huddle in trees for four months. Spring warmth will awaken them from hibernation
The lifespan of a monarch butterfly is tiny by our standards. Those born in early summer live only two months. For the generation that appeared at the end of summer and is about to spend the winter, nature has provided a special form of existence called diapause. Diapause is a non-reproductive phase of life, a physiological state of torpor during which the aging process slows down. It is this state of diapause that allows monarch butterflies to survive the winter.
Most butterflies survive and drink their first nectar after four months. As it gets warmer, more and more butterflies wake up and take to the air. Soon they will all go north, and their great-grandchildren will then return here again, sheltering from the northern winter
Those monarch butterflies that survived the winter do not have long to live. However, before they fly too far, they will encounter plants suitable for breeding. There the butterflies will mate. The caterpillar and pupa stages last about two weeks, and now a new generation of monarchs is ready to continue their journey north
The new butterflies will then lay eggs on their own. But this will not be the generation that returns to the coniferous forests of California and Mexico. Only the fourth generation of butterflies in this cycle will return there. Monarch butterflies have survived this way for thousands of years, and long may it continue!
In the insect world, the species monarch butterfly has the definition of kings. The full name Danaid-monarch comes from royal origins. Ancient mythology says that a powerful Egyptian son was named Danaus, hence the name of the insect. The second version of the name was given to the butterfly by Samuel Scudder in 1874, based on its large appearance and the capture of vast territories for living.
Features and habitat of the monarch butterfly
The monarch travels long distances to fly to warm countries in winter. One of the features is intolerance to the cold season, and the food consumed does not grow during winter in the native land of existence.
monarch butterfly from the genus Danaids, which belongs to the nymphalidae family. Since ancient times, the Danaid genus was divided into three subgenera, which have now been forgotten, and today all 12 butterflies belong to one genus. Due to this monarch butterfly description sometimes different.
The wings, when spread, are large (8-10 centimeters). But not only the size surprises, but the structure of the wing, which has 1.5 million cells, is fascinating, and bubbles are located in them.
The color of the wings is varied, but red-brown tones are superior among the others, they are rich and in large quantities. There are patterns painted with yellow stripes, and the tips of the front pair of wings are marked with orange spots, the edges of the wings are outlined with black outline. Female butterflies differ from males in having darkish and small-sized wings.
North America has the largest number of these beautiful insects. But because monarch butterfly migration can be found even in Africa and Australia, Sweden and Spain. In the 19th century, the appearance of the insect in New Zealand was noted. Europe was visited more in Madeira and the Canaries, and the butterfly successfully migrated to Russia.
Observing the migration of butterflies, experts noted that in August they leave North America and travel south. The flight is carried out in columns, also called “clouds”.
The photo shows the migration of monarch butterflies to warm countries
If the monarch's habitat is closer to the north, then migration begins in the spring. A female in position migrates along with the others; she does not lay eggs, but keeps them inside herself during the migration, and only after settling in a new place does she lay them. In Mexico, the Mariposa-Manarca Nature Reserve was created, and it is not the only one where monarch butterfly lives.
Character and lifestyle of the monarch butterfly
Monarch butterflies are very fond of warmth; if temperature changes occur in nature, cold snaps occur sharply, then the butterflies die. In terms of flight range, they take first place; when flying to warm countries, they are ready to cover 4000 kilometers at a speed of 35 km/h. Caterpillars are not afraid of predators due to their color.
Yellow, white and black stripes are a signal to predators for the presence of poison. After living for 42 days, the caterpillar eats 15,000 times its weight in food and grows up to seven centimeters. The adult caterpillar “mother” lays eggs on the leaves of the cottonweed.
Pictured is a caterpillar and a monarch butterfly
They are the main dish in the butterfly’s diet; the juice of this plant contains a large amount of glycosides. Having accumulated substances, they pass into the body of the insect.
During the cold season, monarchs try to drink huge amounts of nectar. Sugar later turns into fats, which are necessary for travel. And they go on a journey.
When the wintering site is reached, the butterflies hibernate for four months. Monarch butterfly in the photo during hibernation it does not look entirely clear. And all for the reason that butterflies sleep in close colonies; to preserve warmth, they cling to branches that secrete milky sap.
They hang on trees like bunches of rowan berries or grapes. There are cases when in four months the monarch flies several times to obtain nectar and water. The first thing butterflies do after hibernation is open their wings and flap them to warm up for the upcoming flight.
Monarch butterfly feeding
Monarch butterfly feeding plants that secrete milky sap. Caterpillars consume exclusively milky sap. The diet of adult monarchs includes nectar from flowers and plants: lilac, carrot, aster, clover, goldenrod and others.
The most abundant delicacy for the monarch is milkweed. In recent years, cottonweed has been grown in gardens between trees, in city flower beds, and in the front gardens of private housing complexes.
The plant has an attractive appearance and is not only a lure, but also a decoration for a yard or flower bed. The plant is up to two meters high, the leaves and stems contain milky sap, which promotes the growth and breeding of the monarch.
Reproduction and lifespan of the monarch butterfly
The mating season for butterflies begins in the spring, before migrating to warm countries. Before the mating process there is a courtship period, which is a pleasure to watch.
First, the male pursues the female in flight, playing and attracting with his presence, he touches her with his wings, stroking her from time to time. Next, he deliberately forcefully pushes the chosen one down.
It is at this moment that the insects mate. The sperm sac, which the male gives to the female, not only plays the role of fertilization, but also supports the butterfly’s strength during egg laying and is an assistant during travel.
The female is ready to lay eggs in spring or summer. The color of the eggs is white, creamy with a hint of yellow. The eggs are irregularly conical in shape, more than one centimeter long and a millimeter wide.
Just four days after laying, the caterpillar appears. The monarch caterpillar is very voracious and can cause great damage to agriculture during its growth period. First, the caterpillars eat the eggs from which they emerged, and then proceed to feed on the leaves on which the eggs were stored.
The caterpillars accumulate the necessary strength and energy and after 14 days they become pupae. When another two weeks pass from the pupal stage, the monarch turns into a beautiful butterfly.
According to scientific research, it is known that the beautiful butterfly with the royal name lives in natural conditions from two weeks to two months. The life of butterflies that migrate is about seven months.
Published: July 5, 2011 at 02:00
Monarch butterflies are widely known for their migrations. Although no single butterfly has ever completed the entire 3,200-kilometer journey, several generations collectively cover that distance per year. True to the saying, “Alone makes no man,” millions of monarch butterflies gather together in one of the most impressive sights in nature.
2. In North America, these butterflies begin their grand annual journey in August. Monarchs "refuel" with nectar in the northern American states and Canada, after which it is time to hit the road, as the coming winter will inevitably lead to their death from the cold. 
3. Unlike their ancestors, these butterflies have not yet flown more than a few hundred meters in their lives, however, they do not hesitate to take flight over the wide northern lakes. This is only the first stage of one of the largest migrations in the world. 
4. Soon, individuals flying from all over North America unite with each other. Butterflies from areas east of the Rocky Mountains head to Mexico, while butterflies from the west head to California, especially to the coniferous forests near Santa Cruz and Pacific Grove. This is where the incredible spectacle takes place. 
5. When the butterflies arrive at their destination, a lucky few people get to see countless monarchs hanging from every branch. Monarchs come here because, although there are frosts here, they are not as deadly to butterflies as in the north. Local conditions are ideal for wintering (in other words, hibernation). 
6. While it is certainly safer to be in a crowd, hibernating butterflies are easy prey for predators, despite the fact that monarchs are poisonous. Some birds have learned to tear off the poisonous parts of butterflies and eat the rest. Every year, birds eat hundreds of thousands of butterflies and displace even more from their habitats, but this is unlikely to have the same impact on butterfly populations as, say, deforestation. 
7. Those butterflies that have fallen from the branches must rise back as soon as possible - this is a matter of life and death. Their wings vibrate to warm their flight muscles and lift them up before they freeze on the ground. Those who managed to survive huddle in trees for four months. The warmth of spring will awaken them from hibernation. 
8. The lifespan of a monarch butterfly is tiny by our standards. Those born in early summer live only two months. For the generation that appeared at the end of summer and is about to spend the winter, nature has provided a special form of existence called diapause. Diapause is a non-reproductive phase of life, a physiological state of torpor during which the aging process slows down. It is this state of diapause that allows monarch butterflies to survive the winter. 
9. Most butterflies survive and after four months they already drink their first nectar. As it gets warmer, more and more butterflies wake up and take to the air. Soon they will all go north, and their great-grandchildren will then return here again, sheltering from the northern winter. 
10. Those monarch butterflies that survived the winter do not have long to live. However, before they fly too far, they will encounter plants suitable for breeding. There the butterflies will mate. The caterpillar and pupa stages last about two weeks, and now a new generation of monarchs is ready to continue their journey north. 
11. Then the new butterflies will lay eggs themselves. But this will not be the generation that returns to the coniferous forests of California and Mexico. Only the fourth generation of butterflies in this cycle will return there. Monarch butterflies have survived this way for thousands of years, and long may it continue! 
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Butterflies in nature
Butterfly migrations
Many European butterflies are born in the Mediterranean and then migrate north. Huge concentrations of thistles, meadow jaundices, cutworms and other species travel such distances. In the fall they die, leaving no offspring in new northern places. So, every year, myriads of butterflies fly in from warm regions to replace them.
Some species migrate seasonally: they fly to warmer regions in winter. Like birds, butterflies travel hundreds or even thousands of kilometers. They do not choose hot countries, but those where the temperature does not drop below zero. In such conditions, metabolism essentially stops, and butterflies live off the reserves accumulated in the body.
Such migrations are typical for thistles. The champion among migrants is rightfully considered the North American monarch butterfly, which moves from Canada to Central America. At the end of summer, these butterflies gather in flocks and head south, sometimes covering over 3000 km. They fly during the day at a speed of approximately 35 km/h, along strictly defined routes, and winter in some forest areas of Mexico and neighboring countries. Myriads of butterflies cling to tree branches that bend under their weight.
The climate in these places is ideal for monarchs - there is high humidity and there is no drought. The temperature is almost constant and the soil remains warm. In the spring, when everything around comes to life, monarchs leave the Mexican forests and fly north. In Canada they lay eggs from which a new generation emerges. Overwintered butterflies then die. In the summer, one after another, two generations of butterflies are born, they head further north, and in the fall they migrate south, to Mexico, where their ancestors once wintered. The migration of monarchs is still an unsolved mystery of nature.
When migrating, insects are guided by an innate biological sense of time and direction. Daytime butterflies migrate in sunny weather, as they receive energy from the sun. In the morning they prefer to fly to the northwest, and in the afternoon - to the northeast. Some moths migrate using the moon and stars as a guide. If the sky is covered with clouds, nocturnal butterflies orient themselves according to the Earth’s magnetic field, which seems to be inaccessible to daytime butterflies. The average speed of migrating daytime butterflies is 10 - 15 km/h. With a tailwind, they stay higher above the ground, and if there is a headwind or side wind, they stay lower.
The white florella (Catopsilia florella) is recognized as the champion in terms of flight range in Africa. Every year from December to February, tens of millions of these butterflies, having left the arid outskirts of the Sahara Desert, fly south to Zaire in flocks up to 20 km long and up to 5 km wide. After all, here, with the beginning of the rainy season, flowers bloom, the nectar of which they will feed on. And with the return of the dry season, the butterflies will fly back. Butterflies of the same species, living in southern Africa, make similar seasonal migrations, heading to the northwest.
Migrants from Mediterranean countries are some of the largest and most beautiful hawk moths in Russia: the “death’s head” and the oleander hawk moth. Some individuals fly to St. Petersburg, Petrozavodsk and even to the southern coasts of the Kola Peninsula. However, in the harsh climate of these northern regions they do not produce offspring.
The monarch butterfly (scientific name: Danaus plexippus) is perhaps the most famous of all North American butterflies. It is easily recognized by its bright orange-red wings with black streaks and white spots along the edges. Each fall, millions of these butterflies migrate south to California and Mexico from Canada for the winter, and return north to Canada in the summer. This is the only butterfly that regularly migrates from north to south, as birds do. But the most amazing thing is that not a single butterfly makes the entire journey. This happens because the life of a butterfly is short, and during the entire period of migration there are 3 to 4 generations of butterflies. Monarch butterflies are also one of the few insects that can cross the Atlantic. Before migrating, they gather in huge colonies on coniferous trees, and stick around them so that the trees turn orange and the branches sag under their weight. This amazing sight attracts many tourists.
The monarch migration usually begins in October each year, but can begin earlier if the weather turns cold. They travel a distance of 1,200 to 2,800 km, from Canada to the central Mexican forests, where the climate is warm. If the monarch lives in the eastern states, typically east of the Rocky Mountains, it will migrate to Mexico and winter in coniferous trees. If it lives west of the Rocky Mountains, it will winter in the Pacific Grove area of California, in eucalyptus trees. It is surprising that the butterflies use the same trees for the winter every year, because they do not represent the same generation of butterflies that were there the previous year. How the butterflies were able to return to the same wintering places, with a gap of several generations, still remains a mystery to scientists. It is assumed that flight patterns are inherited. Some studies show that butterflies use the position of the sun in the sky and the Earth's magnetic field for orientation.
For years, people have been puzzled as to where the millions of monarchs that spend the summer in Canada disappear to during the winter. It was not until 1937 that Canadian zoologist F. Urquhart began tracking the movements of butterflies, marking the wings of thousands of individuals. 38 years later, with the help of thousands of volunteers across the country, the scientist located the first wintering refuge of the butterflies on the top of Mount Michoacán in Mexico, several thousand kilometers from the starting point of their migration. The site is now a World Heritage Site and is known as the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. There are dozens of such sites in Mexico, and they are protected by the Mexican government as ecological reserves.
Unfortunately, monarch wintering colonies are under threat due to widespread deforestation. This year, the number of monarch butterflies that completed their migration in the Mexican forest fell to their lowest level in two decades. This was mainly due to extreme weather conditions and rapid expansion of agricultural land. According to the colony's annual census conducted in December 2012, the area of forest occupied by butterflies has decreased from 50 hectares to 2.94 hectares.
The migration of monarchs is a natural miracle, both for Canada and Mexico, and for all humanity. It would be a real shame to lose him. You can also read about a glass butterfly with transparent wings in our article.
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