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Home Tips > Tips By Category > Tips you can implement daily Monarch Butterflies use the deflective wind currents to help them make their long journey to Michoacãn state in Mexico.
What is so unusual is that none of the Monarchs have ever been to Mexico, yet they will end up in the same valleys, perhaps even the same trees and branches, that their ancestors rested in. The information is encoded somehow in their DNA.
The cycle begins in Mexico in the spring. Pregnant female monarchs that have wintered in Mexico begin to travel northward. Most of the males have lived only long enough to mate with the females, although a few will also begin the trek north. This generation will die after their reproductive duties are done. The females fly until they feel compelled to lay their eggs on one of the 107 species of milkweed plants that grow in North America. They only lay their eggs on milkweed plants and the caterpillars that hatch out in a few days will only eat milkweed plants. In the process, they make themselves poisonous to other animals that would try to devour them. Most animals recognize the Monarchs as poisonous and won't even try to eat them. In two weeks, the caterpillars will increase their weight by 3000 times before spinning themselves into a chrysalis. New Monarchs will emerge in just a few days and will continue to fly northward. Basically, after the reproductive work is done, Monarchs have had it and die. The next generation will push the whole species farther north before they too die and a new generation continues on. It takes 3 to 6 generations of Monarchs to reach the northern limit of their range.
In August, as the days begin to shorten, priorities for the Monarchs change from reproduction to storing fat for the flight back to Mexico. Adult butterflies feed on flower nectar. Butterflies that begin the trek back without mating will live up to 8 months, compared to the 6 week lifespan of their more promiscuous relations. The fall migration begins in August and continues into the fall. Many areas of the United States will have migrating Monarchs moving through.
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