When you hear someone say monarch butterfly, you can probably pull up an image in your mind of what they are talking about. Monarchs are one of the most widely recognized butterflies in America. As a species, they face many problems.
Adult female monarchs will lay their eggs on milkweed plants. In a few days, the baby caterpillar will emerge from its egg and eat the leaves and other parts of the milkweed plant. Milkweed plants have toxins inside of them, so as the caterpillars eat the plant, they store the toxins in their body. The bright orange color in adults tells predators that they do not taste good because of all the toxins stored inside of them. Adults are able to drink nectar from different flowers. They do not rely solely on milkweed plants for food as adults.
Monarchs make a long migration to their winter home. Most people know of the monarchs migrating down to Mexico, but there is also a population that migrates down to southern California. Over the course of one summer, monarchs have four different generations. The first three generations usually live between 2 to 6 weeks. The fourth generation can live up to nine months! This is the generation that will make the migration to Mexico or southern California.
