DID YOU KNOW

The longest recorded flight of a monarch butterfly is more than 3,000 miles. The monarch can cover 80 miles a day when migrating.

The monarch butterfly is believed to have reached some of the islands it has colonized by hanging into ship riggings.

The monarch makes its migratory flight at speeds of up to 11 miles per hour. It travels 16 or 17 feet above the ground.

Butterflies taste with their feet.

DISTRIBUTION

From Canada, south to Argentina, Hawaii, Fiji, the Marquesas, the Moluccas, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, and the Azores.

FEATURES

The monarch has six legs, and its body is divided into three segments: head, thorax and abdomen. Butterflies, in common with most other insects, also have wings and feelers, called antennae.

One of the best ways to tell a butterfly from a moth is to took at its feelers. Butterfly feelers are slender and have knobs on the ends, which moth feelers do not. Also, moth feelers are often feathery.

Unlike moths, butterflies rest with their wings together. For this reason, the monarch has its warning coloration on both sides of its wings. Butterfly wings are made up of chitin, and are covered with tiny scales.

ADAPTATIONS

Monarchs have striking, black and white stripes and yellow spots. Their bold coloration serves as a warning to predators that they are unpleasant to eat. The caterpillars feed on milkweed, and their bodies absorb its poisons. These poisons can cause severe vomiting in almost any animal that eats either a monarch caterpillar or an adult butterfly.

 

RELATED SPECIES

The similar African monarch butterfly, Danaus chrysippus.