Monarch Butterfly
Have you ever cared for a little caterpillar or seen a beautiful butterfly resting on a flower? Well, today’s critter takes us on quite a long trip. Let’s jump in and learn some more about the migrating Monarch Butterfly!
Critter At A Glance
What is Migration? Migration is when an animal travels from one place to another to stay safe even during seasonal changes. Monarch Butterflies can’t survive cold climates, so they migrate up to 3,000 to warmer areas like Mexico during the winter cold of northern United States. The super generation of Monarchs are able to migrate all the way to Mexico and part of the way back north in the spring.
What are the Monarch’s protection skills? These critters are able to consume Milkweed plants even though milkweed has toxins. This makes the Monarch dangerous for predators to consume, which keeps the little critter safe.
What is their life cycle? Monarchs lay their eggs on the underside of milkweed leaves. They are so small that they look like a little white dot from a pen. These eggs hatch in less than a week into a little dark green caterpillar. The caterpillar grows super fast by eating lots and lots of milkweed. Once it’s 2 weeks old and 2 inches long, it builds a tiny house called a chrysalis. This home keeps them safe while they go through METAMORPHOSIS. This is the magical stage when a caterpillar turns into a butterfly.
Luella is a super generation Monarch Butterfly and she goes on quite the migration journey in her story below.
Are you ready for an out of this world fact?
Monarch Butterflies have built in clocks. Monarchs get from one place to another by reading the position of the sun and by using an internal clock. Since monarchs don’t carry a wrist watch, they rely on their small antennae to tell them what time of day it is.
Critter Protectors we need you to
join the CritterQ!
Monarch Butterflies carry out their migration like a relay. When one set of butterflies nears the end of their life, the newly hatched ones keep traveling.
Today’s challenge is to complete a relay race.
You Need:
Printed butterflies below for each kid in your group
Scissors
Optional popsicle sticks and tape to add to each butterfly for support
Directions:
After printing off the butterflies below, have students cut them out and tape to a popsicle stick (optional)
Line up students 6-10 feet apart or as far apart as space allows.
Each person holds their own butterfly before the race begins. On the count of 3 the first person at the end of the line runs their butterfly to the next person. This second person places that butterfly on the ground, then runs their own butterfly to the 3rd person and so forth.
click the picture to download PDF
Can you see how fast you are a team? Share your teamwork and let us know if you completed this game challenge! #heymrjim #critterprotectors #kidsanimalstories
“The Magnificent Migration of Monarch Butterflies.” Green Bay Botanical Garden, https://gbbg.org/2021/08/monarch-migration-super-generation/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA_8OPBhDtARIsAKQu0gYJL10yJGsaLzt7_HziymAUlffqYYLnuJxNDrDwZdkOfVbvEAidJncaApawEALw_wcB.