Fact 2
Female monarch chrysalides have a tiny line, or indentation on it. Males lack this line
Looking closely at the chrysalis and you can find this line on the female's chrysalis. It's very hard to see but it's an indication to finding out if the monarch inside is going to be a female or male.
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Fact 3
Monarch Mimicry!! The monarch has many look alikes. Here's the difference.
The Viceroy has a line along the bottom wing, and the Queen has a darker orange coloring, and doesn't have as many thick veins on the top, while the underside veins have white outlines. From afar, these butterflies look very similar to monarchs.
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Fact 4
Queen butterfly caterpillars have three sets of filaments, while monarchs only have two.
On the left is a Monarch caterpillar, and on the right is a Queen caterpillar. The biggest difference is that the queen caterpillar has three sets of filaments (antennae) while the Monarch only has two sets. Both are part of the Danaus family, which all have milkweed as their host plant.
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Fact 5
The fourth generation of monarchs is the only generation that migrates to Mexico.
In one year, there are four generations of monarchs. The first three last about six weeks, while the fourth generation, who migrates the 3,000 mile migration course during the fall, lasts up to six months. The job of the first three monarchs is to mate and lay eggs, while gradually flying up to Canada, and eventually the third generation lays eggs that will be the fourth generation. The eggs are laid closer to Canada. This generation has a special gene that allows them to live longer and live through the months of winter, before they lay eggs that starts the first generation all over again. Not much information is available about which generations the New Mexico Monarchs are. On this map, the area of New Mexico has a question mark, to prove that point. That's why we need people like you to tag monarch butterflies, and post your sightings to the Monarchs Along the Rio Grande iNaturalist project. Learn more about this project.
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Fact 6
Milkweed has a toxic substance in its sap, which also makes the Monarch caterpillar toxic.
Monarchs eat milkweed, and only milkweed. By eating the milkweed, they ingest a toxic substance from the sap in the milkweed. This makes the monarch poisonous to predators. The substance is so poisonous that it can make a bird have a heart attack.
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Fact 7
The colors on their wings act as a warning sign to predators saying "I'm poisonous!"
The coloring of the monarchs wings tell predators they're poisonous. When a predator eats a monarch, they become sick. Then they associate this design with "dangerous." This must be why monarch look alikes like the viceroy, have similar coloring, so they can protect themselves too.
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Fact 8
Touching butterfly wings won't hurt it drastically
It's a common misconception that if you touch a butterfly's wings, it will hurt it or almost die. This isn't true. Because the scale son the butterfly's wings are like shingles on a roof, getting some on your finger wont' kill it. Although it can change the butterfly's aerodynamics, it can still fly without them. Butterflies life a long time and they encounter tons of challenges and obstacles where by the end of it's life, los of scales will be gone already, and sometimes, parts of the wing will be ripped off, so getting a few scales on your finger won't kill it. Still be gentle when you hold then, however, as we wouldn't' want more complications to occur.
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Fact 9
The Monarch butterfly, and other butterflies, don't have lungs!
Instead of lungs, the monarch and other kinds of butterflies have tiny vents in the thorax (abdomen) where breathing happens, and through tubes called trachea, so oxygen can be spread around the body. The trachea is also present in the caterpillar, and can be seen when the caterpillar begins to molt its skin before it turns into a chrysalis.
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Fact 10
The Monarch butterfly has an "internal compass" which helps it navigate during the fall migration.
The video bellow talks more about this recent discovery:
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