Monarch

The monarch butterfly is a long-distance migrator. It migrates both north and south like birds do. But, unlike birds, individual butterflies don't complete migration both ways. It is their great-grandchildren that end up back at the starting point.

In the fall, monarchs in the north gather and begin to move south. In North America there are two large population groups that follow separate migration paths. Most monarchs east of the Rocky Mountains overwinter in the Sierra Madres in central Mexico where they live in fir forests at high altitudes. Far western populations of monarchs winter along the coast of southern California where they live in groves of pine, cypress, and eucalyptus trees. In the spring they head north and breed along the way.

Monarch migration back to the north is like a relay race. The original butterfly dies along the way, but the offspring it leaves behind continues on to the north where the cycle will start again in the fall. There are populations of monarchs in California, Florida and Texas that don't migrate.