Know Before You Go

Correct Answer: Scaley wings

Explanation: The order Lepidoptera encompasses some 180,000 butterflies and moths. Most apparent across species are the scales that cover the wings and body. These scales are small, flattened “hairs” that give the insects their wide variety of patterns and colors.

Photo Credit—Colin McNulty

Correct Answer: These two colors warn predators that they are toxic

Explanation: A monarch caterpillar’s steady diet of milkweed transforms it into a dangerous prey item as an adult. After consuming the toxic cardiac glycosides found in the plant, the butterflies become an unpalatable catch to predators, producing a foul taste and even inducing vomiting. The monarch’s bright coloring warns potential predators of such. In Mexico’s overwintering colonies, two bird species and one mouse have evolved systems that allow them to tolerate or avoid the effects of the poisonous milkweed sap. Photo Credit—Court Whelan

Correct Answer: 400

Explanation: A female monarch lays approximately 400 eggs over a two to five-week period. Each egg is pale yellow and about the size of a pinhead. Most of the eggs, however, will be eaten by predators and won’t survive to adulthood. Photo Credit—Colin McNulty

Correct Answer: Milkweed

Explanation: While monarch caterpillars only feed on milkweed, there are many varieties of the plant, so there are regional differences in what larva eat. When they reach adulthood, the butterflies feed on the nectar of many kinds of flowering plants.

Photo Credit—Ingo Arndt, WWF

Correct Answer: Habitat loss and herbicide use

Explanation: The large-scale use of herbicides on farms across the United States has been an overwhelming concern for monarch populations. The spread of agriculture and increased use of herbicides has affected the butterfly by destroying milkweed, a crucial food resource and egg-laying ground. Photo Credit—Chris Lyons, WWF

Correct Answer: 3.7 million

Explanation: Conversion to agriculture is leading to a decline in crucial monarch habitats. As flowering plants, which are important to pollinators, are replaced with croplands, wild species suffer. Milkweed is the only plant the butterflies lay their eggs on, and it’s the primary food source for monarch caterpillars. Unfortunately, due to habitat loss, milkweed numbers fell 21 percent in America from 1995 to 2013. To aid the monarch, conservationists are urging people to grow milkweed and other flowering plants in their gardens and community spaces. The large-scale use of herbicides on farms across the United States has been an overwhelming concern for monarch populations. The spread of agriculture and increased use of herbicides has affected the butterfly by destroying milkweed, a crucial food resource and egg-laying ground. Photo Credit—Court Whelan

Correct Answer: Africa

Explanation: Monarch butterflies (D. plexippus) are found in North America, Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands, as well as Spain and other parts of Europe. The southern monarch (D. erippus) lives in South America, mainly in Brazil, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay.

Fun Fact: Monarchs have even flown out of this world! After being transported to the International Space Station and bred there, these “space butterflies” took flight in an educational experiment followed by thousands of teachers and students. Photo Credit—Astrid Frisch

Correct Answer: 1975

Explanation: In 1940, the entomologist Fred Urquhart led a team of thousands of butterfly enthusiasts in tagging monarchs across the North American continent, in an attempt to uncover their overwintering site. Observing the patterns of their movements over the course of each year, Urquhart mapped how the butterflies seemed to be traveling farther and farther south. Kenneth Brugger, an American businessman, read of Urquhart’s findings in 1973 and contacted him about seeing monarchs shower down from the sky while living in Mexico. Urquhart urged him to investigate the area, and Brugger set out on a two-year expedition with his wife in search of the monarch’s grounds. On January 2, 1975, while hiking in the mountainous forests of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, they came upon the ethereal monarch’s wintering site, where millions of butterflies hung from the branches of oyamel fir trees. Photo Credit—Astrid Frisch

Correct Answer: 2,000 to 3,000 miles

Explanation: Monarch butterflies traverse an enormous distance on the way to their overwinter home each fall. As millions descend on the oyamel fir forests in Central Mexico, the butterflies return to the same small groves of trees where their ancestors overwintered one year and at least three generations earlier.Photo Credit—Court Whelan

Correct Answer: 12 miles per hour

Explanation: Monarchs flutter along at 12 mph, about the speed of a serious long-distance runner. These butterflies only fly during daylight hours at temperatures above 54°F. Warm and sunny weather are ideal conditions for flight. On rainy, cold and cloudy days, monarchs generally remain grounded. Photo Credit—Ingo Arndt, WWF

Correct Answer: All of the above

Explanation: How the monarchs accurately navigate to a place only their ancestors have been has remained a mystery for a long time. Scientists have speculated on many theories. This includes the possible role of magnetic fields or magnetite crystals in the earth, as there is evidence that minerals carried in the monarchs’ bodies provide them with an ability to migrate to a specific point on the planet. The monarchs also rely on a sun compass, determining their way south by using an internal clock and monitoring the position of the sun. In addition, a monarch’s sense of smell is well developed, which it uses to navigate and locate flowers. The smelling sensors on each of its antenna are approximately 5,000 times more sensitive to smell than the human nose! Photo Credit—Mike Bruscia

Correct Answer: 27%

Explanation: These delicate, gossamer-winged creatures face several threats. They must endure extreme weather events along their route due to climate change. Their nectar plants and wild habitats are being replaced with agricultural areas in the Great Plains. In addition, illegal logging on biosphere reserves in Mexico has devasted monarch populations in the past—a single tree may host thousands, if not millions, of hibernating butterflies, and so a few acres lost spells disaster. However, Mexico is continuously working to combat these problems and has preserved 63 million acres in more than 170 protected natural areas, including 41 biosphere reserves. Photo Credit—Court Whelan

Correct Answer: None

Explanation: Monarch butterflies feed on flowering plants on their way to their overwintering sites in Mexico. Once there, they typically have stored enough fat to forgo eating. They do, however, drink dew and water from small pools. Photo Credit—Astrid Frisch

Correct Answer: All of the above

Explanation: The World Wildlife Fund is helping protect the monarch’s winter home in Mexico by promoting responsible forest management, supporting tree and mushroom nurseries and cultivating sustainable tourism.

Journey with the travel partner of the WWF, Natural Habitat Adventures, to gaze in awe at the fluttering hoards and witness this miraculous migration for yourself. Photo Credit—Astrid FrischResults Credit—Egg: Bfpage [CC BY-SA 4.0] via Wikimedia Commons; Caterpillar: Ingo Arndt, WWF; Pupa: Al Troutman [CC by 2.0] via Flickr; Adult: Mike Bruscia