Emerging Monarch
A monarch butterfly. Photo by Albert P. Bekker © California Academy of Sciences.
JB: This is Earth and Sky. A listener writes, “After a monarch butterfly emerges from the chrysalis, what will happen if its wings never unfold completely to dry out?”
DB: Monarch butterflies are spectacular fliers and travel very long distances during migration. Each year monarch butterflies cross a distance from Mexico to points in North America and Canada – and back again – a round-trip distance of five thousand kilometers or about three thousand miles.
JB: Clearly, a monarch needs its wings to work well . . . but if it comes from its chrysalis with slightly damaged wings, the extent of the problem depends in part on the time of year. There’s more than one generation of monarchs born each year. If a monarch is born in North America – in the spring or early summer – but it can’t fly long distances, it still might be able to eat enough food, find a mate and have young of its own.
DB: On the other hand, if a monarch butterfly with damaged wings emerges just before the big fall migration to Mexico, its future isn’t as bright. If it can’t make the long trek back to Mexico, it’ll lose its chance to mate and have young. But nature waste things. Crippled butterflies become food for other creatures – an important link in the food web.
JB: Special thanks today to the U.S. Forest Service and to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation – supporting the conservation of native fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats. We’re Block and Byrd for Earth and Sky.
The following individual was interviewed for today’s show. Our thanks to:
Christopher C. Caudill, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow Program in Aquatic Chemical Signaling
School of Biology
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta GA
Web sites:
Notes:
- If you raise monarchs and some emerge with misshapen wings, release them anyway-they might have a shot at eating and mating. If not, they will become part of the food web.
- Monarchs usually begin to eat within one to two days after they emerge from their chrysalis.
- Some monarch over winter in California, most over winter in Mexico. They probably travel to these locations because it is warmer. They can’t survive the long cold winter in North America or Canada.
*No other butterfly species travels so far-up to three thousand miles.
Additional Teacher Resources
The Library of Congress, Science Reference Services: Selected Internet Resources: Migration of the Monarch Butterfly”:http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/selected-internet/butterfly.html
A great resource for all students and educators. This site provides a variety of links on general monarch butterfly resources, monarch migration projects, conservation, and miscellaneous information.
The Smithsonian Institute, Bug Info: Monarch: Monarch Butterflies
This site provides a fact sheet, geared towards younger students, on the natural history of the monarch butterfly.
The National Geographic Society, National Geographic News, Kids Magazine: Internal Clock Leads Monarch Butterflies to Mexico
For every fourth or fifth generation of monarch butterflies that summer in the U.S. east of the Continental Divide, the pull of high-altitude Oyamel fir forests in central Mexico is irresistible. By the millions each fall they point south and flutter up to 2,000 miles to reach the forests on a few small mountain peaks in the volcanic highlands that serve as the butterflies’ winter retreat. This article documents the monarch incredible journey.
