Monarch Butterflies

Characteristics:

Monarchs are orange and black with a wing span of 8.9 - 10.2 cm. They weigh between .27 - .75 grams. Their wings beat between 300 - 700 times a minute. The female butterfly has darker veins than the males. The males are slightly larger than the females and also have two spots in the center of each wing that release pheromones. Monarchs are the only butterflies that migrate both north and south on a regular basis. Due to the length of their migration, however, no single butterfly makes the entire trip. The Monarch butterfly is the state insect of Alabama, Idaho, Illinois, Minnesota, and Texas, and the state butterfly of Vermont and West Virginia.

Find out more about the stages of the Monarch butterflies' life on the Life Cycle page. Learn about its classification on the Scientific Classification page and make sure to check out the Links page for further resources.

Image Credits:

Left side of banner is from http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/citizen-science-47121401

Right side of banner is from http://www.outdoorlens.com/monarch-butterfly-pictures/