Monarch Facts
- No other butterfly migrates further than the North American monarch (over 3000 km)
- Monarch adult females can lay hundreds of eggs
- Eggs hatch approximately 3 days after they are laid
- Monarch caterpillars are yellow, white and black
- Monarch caterpillars only eat plants in the milkweed family
- The caterpillar stage is also known as the larval stage
- Caterpillars are eating machines - growing over 2000x in size from their emergence until their full size
- Monarch larva sheds its skin 5 times and goes through 5 instars (stages) before becoming a chrysalis
- The entire larval stage lasts between 9-14 days under normal summer temperatures
- Before entering the pupa stage (chrysalis) the larva will hang upside down in the form of a J
- A monarch chrysalis is a bright jade green with gold dots
- The pupa stage lasts from 8-13 days (depending on the temperature)
- Adult monarchs (butterflies) in summer generations live 2-6 weeks
- Adult monarchs that emerge in late summer or fall migrate south and can live 8-9 months
- Monarchs taste with their feet
- Monarchs found east of the Rockies winter in the Transverse Neovolcanic Mountains in Mexico
- Monarchs found west of the Rockies winter along the California coast
- Monarchs can be found in Canada, the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean Islands, Australia, New Zealand and other Pacific Islands
- Not all monarchs migrate
- Monarchs use thermals (updrafts of warm air) to help them conserve energy during migration