Monarck Butterfly Migration

Monarck Butterfly Migration - fascinating

Animals - Wild Animals

Written by jr

Tuesday, 03 March 2009 07:55

Tags: animal pictures | butterflies | HD wallpaper

Keeping up a family tradition.. if thats not the motto of the Monarch Butterfly, maybe it should be

Monarch Butterflies migrate up and down the US and can travel upto 3000 miles on their yearly treks

. Every year the monarch butterfly makes a very long two way trip between roosts. They are the only tropical butterflies to make such long journeys. The Monarchs travel further than many birds and whales, hardly what anyone would ever suspect such small creatures to do.

The butterflys can be seen flying in masses and amazingly enough they return to the same place, sometimes even the same trees as the previous year.

Whats really fascinating is that the following years migration is not made by the same butterflies as the year before, it is made by their offsprings, the grandchildren. The butterflys only make the journey once in thier short life and their grandchildren return the following fall to the same location as their grandparents having never been their before.

A few more cool facts about the Monarch Butterfly

Adult female monarchs lay their eggs on the underside of milkweed leaves. These eggs hatch, depending on temperature, in three to twelve days.
The larvae feed on the plant leaves for about two weeks and develop into caterpillars about 2 inches long.
After awhile, the caterpillars attach themselves head down to a convenient twig, they shed their outer skin and begin the transformation into a pupa (or chrysalis), a process which is completed in a few hours. The butterfly finally emerges from the chrysalis.
The butterfly waits until its wings stiffen and dry before it flies away to start the cycle of life all over again.

Images of the Monarch Butterfly and wallpaper

HD Monarch Butterfly - close up

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Last Updated on Tuesday, 03 March 2009 08:10