An amazing journey
Each autumn, monarchs fly up to 3,000 miles south to a few mountain forests in Mexico.
The Great Plains
Monarch butterfly
Danaus plexippus
A big orange butterfly with black veins and a black border dotted with white.
- Size
- Wingspan about 10cm
- Look for it
- May to October
- Where
- Across the United States and southern Canada, wintering in Mexico
Flutters after you, gliding between flaps. Move your pointer and see.
When to look
Monarch butterfly
Good to know
Six things about the monarch butterfly
A family relay
No butterfly makes the whole round trip. It takes four or five generations to get back north.
Trees turned orange
In winter so many cluster together that branches bend under their weight.
Poisonous to eat
The caterpillars eat milkweed, which makes them, and the butterflies, taste foul to birds.
A warning
The bright orange tells birds to leave it alone. Other butterflies copy the pattern.
A rare visitor
A few monarchs are blown across the Atlantic and turn up in south-west England in autumn.
The real thing
Photos of the monarch butterfly
_(3).jpg){kind=link}
,_Jard%C3%ADn_Bot%C3%A1nico_de_M%C3%BAnich,_Alemania,_2013-01-27,_DD_01.JPG){kind=link}
Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
How to spot one
Look on milkweed and other flowers in summer. In autumn, watch for them gliding steadily south, one after another.
How to help
Monarch numbers have fallen sharply. In North America, people plant milkweed in gardens and along roads to give the caterpillars food.
Keep going