The Monarch Butterfly
Country: Mexico.

During the summer, the Monarch butterfly lives in northern United States and south central Canada. It migrates annually in an impressively long journey of over 2,500 miles, in search of a mild climate for hibernation and reproduction.

Eastern Michoacan, especially the municipalities of Angangueo, Ocampo and Zitacuaro, offer the most favorable conditions for the Monarch butterfly; the required vegetation for the insect, protection against the wind and stable temperatures.

For many years it was thought that the Monarch butterfly spent the winter months in tropical and subtropical climates, but the question was .... where? It was a mystery until 1975, when a patient search that was initiated in 1938, came to an end as Canadian zoologist Fred Urquhart found the winter home of the Monarchs. To the surprise of many, it was in a cold climate, among evergreen forests, with an average altitude of 10,400 feet, in the majestic Western Sierra Madre Mountains.

In his studies, Urquhart was able to determine that the Monarch flies only during the day and spends nocturnal hours feeding. It flies at an approximate speed of 13 miles and hour, as high as 160 feet over flat land, and up to 30 feet above mountains.

How these butterflies manage to find their way over such a long distance remains a mystery. But the most surprising thing is that not a single butterfly completes the round trip, as the insect only lives a few months. Thus, the butterflies that arrive to the sanctuary are actually descendants of the ones that had left there the previous spring.

Sanctuaries have been established in "El Cerro Altamirano", in Contepec,"Sierra Chincua" in Angangueo, "Sierra El Campanario", in Ocampo, "Chivati-Huacal" and "Cerro Pelon", both in Zitacuaro. It is estimated that some 20 million butterflies gather together in each of these sanctuaries.

The Monarch feeds on alkaloid plants commonly called "cow's tongue" and "swamp milkweed" which are poisonous to other species. For the Monarch, this is a form of protection, for if the butterfly should be eaten by a bird of prey, the bird's heart rate will accelerate causing death.

The reason of their migration lies in the fact that the insect's sexual maturity is reached only in warm spring climate. In order to reach this stage of growth, the butterflies hibernate in a place where the temperature allows them to remain inactive. However, once spring arrives, they busily begin their reproductive cycle.

During the mating season, the males use up their last reserve o energy to mate and soon after they die. The females deposit their eggs in the alkaloid plants that the butterflies feed upon. After about ten days, the fully grown caterpillars emerge, attach themselves to a branch and begin to weave their silk cocoon, where they will complete their chrysalis and become beautiful butterflies. At the beginning of April they will then fly north, thus ending their life cycle.

For more information on butterflies visit: www.monarchwatch.org. If you want to visit a sanctuary go to Angangueo.