Weird & Wonderful Series…The Monarch Butterfly

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Monarch Butterflies and Milkweed Plants: A Weird & Wonderful Relationship!

Weird & Wonderful Series Monarch Butterfly

Nature has so many hidden mysteries that are positively magical and sometimes almost unbelievable. Imagine being a tiny, seemingly frail butterfly floating on the breeze looking for a place to lay eggs…🦋
Monarch Butterfly among flowers.
How do they find milkweed (a group of flowering herbaceous perennials needed to complete their life cycle) in a sea of other plants?!
First, they use a combination of their eyes and their antennae to locate potential host plants from a distance. It is theorized that milkweed produces plumes of compounds that float in the air and can be sensed by monarchs as they fly by.
Magnified image of a butterflies eye. The eye and head of a butterfly.
Once they land on a plant they will use their antennae and legs to drum out a little dance on the leaves releasing more of these compounds. Their legs are full of chemoreceptors which can detect the chemicals that positively identify the plant as milkweed.
Butterfly with labeled anatomy
They also have photoreceptors in their abdomens and have been observed dragging them along a leaf as a final positive ID, but the mechanism and reason for this is still being studied.
A large orange Monarch Butterfly.
If all of that isn’t amazing enough, these incredible little pollinators can fly distances of up to 100 miles per day coasting on air currents (800-1,200 feet high) to migrate over 2,500 miles.
Migratory path of Monarch Butterfly.
Using magnetism and sunlight cues to travel, they are able to find an overwintering location that their ancestors used, despite never having been there themselves.
Image showing the biology of how butterflies determine the direction in which to migrate.
Weird and certainly Wonderful.
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