A bright, conspicuous butterfly with orange wings and dark streaks on them is a monarch butterfly. Living in North America, these fragile creatures are capable of migrating to the Canary Islands, Europe, Africa, Australia and New Zealand during the period of migration. They thrive in any warm, humid climate.
The Monarch Butterfly gets its name from its mantle-like appearance and impressive size. The wingspan of this insect reaches 100 mm. At the same time, females are much smaller, but look just as impressive. You can distinguish a male from her at first sight by a dark spot on the lower wing in the center of the black "vein".
Butterflies need such a bright color to scare away enemies. The juicy orange color makes you wary, and white spots along the edges of the wings warn birds that the insect does not taste very good.
For all its splendor, the monarch butterfly is a poisonous creature, but it is safe for humans. Even in the caterpillar stage, these insects feed on the juice of the spurge plant. Its juice is stored for a long time in the body of butterflies. For birds, it tastes terrible, and for some it is poisonous. There have been caseswhen the most voracious birds spat out their prey.
For scientists, the monarch butterfly, the photo of which is presented in the article, is of particular interest. It has not yet been clarified how these insects cover huge distances up to 3 thousand km. In order to overwinter, entire colonies leave their habitats and move closer to the equator. According to environmental experts, up to 14 million butterflies flock to Mexico.
It is very interesting to observe the wintering places of the colonies. Huge clusters of these insects stick around the trunks and branches of trees, covering everything with a single colored carpet. The monarch is a butterfly that is threatened with extermination by humans due to deforestation and those trees where the colonies winter. The insect is listed in the international Red Book. As a result of human activity, many places beloved by butterflies become uninhabitable. With the help of pesticides, people fight with milkweed, and as a result, the food for the monarch disappears, and with it his population.
The monarch butterfly spends the winter motionless, falling into hibernation until spring. In the spring, the main event in the life of adults occurs - they mate, lay eggs and die. After 3-4 days, caterpillars hatch from the eggs. However, they are so small that they are difficult to see with the naked eye. Voracious caterpillars begin to grow rapidly. They eat milkweed leaves all day long. Soon future butterflies grow into huge caterpillars of black and yellow color. This coloration signals to enemies that a bitter poison is contained within the body. Two weeks later the caterpillarturns into a chrysalis. In another two weeks, the chrysalis is transformed under the action of hormones into a beautiful insect. Freed from the cocoon, the butterfly is ready to fly north to return to its birthplace by the next winter. Adults do not harm nature and humans, feeding only on nectar and plant pollen.
Unfortunately, the length of the life cycle of these beautiful creatures is meager by human standards. Those butterflies that were born at the beginning of summer live only 2 months. And those born in autumn are preparing for wintering, during which they sleep. Therefore, their age is 4-5 months.
