Throughout the month of October, you might’ve noticed the arrival of the monarch migration. Monarchs are one of the only species of butterfly that makes a two-way migration every year, taking them through Texas twice a year, once in the spring, and once in the fall. They travel from their summer habitat in Canada to Mexico, where the year long warm temperatures allow them to breed and overwinter. Their total migratory path is over 3,000 miles, crossing the entire United States.
This has been a part of the species’ life cycle for longer than many features of the continent have been here. In fact, while they usually take a fairly straight line over the country, they take a sharp left over Lake Superior and take a strange detour for a few miles before returning to course. It’s now believed that a mountain that used to reside where Lake Superior is blocked their path tens of thousands of years ago, and the migration path has stayed unchanged since. Their migration, quite literally, is older than the mountains.
The bright colors and beauty of monarchs have made them an iconic phenomenon across the country, as well as a symbol of the conservation as a whole.
Monarch migrations once consisted of over a million adult butterflies, and has since dwindled to less than 50,000. Thankfully, people have been inspired to act. Creating ‘pit stop’ locations, full of native flowers for the monarchs to feed, has become common across many states, and awareness of native pollinator plants has increased in the past few years.
On The University of Texas at Dallas’ campus, an eight acre piece of land is devoted to native grasses, flowers, and other plants, known as the Monarch Waystation. Each migration, dozens of monarchs can be seen gathered here to rest, feed, and lay eggs. Students can participate in the planting and maintenance of the milkweed and flowers here, with the goal of ensuring that the beauty of the monarch migration is preserved for years to come.
If you missed the peak of the migration this year, don’t worry! The monarchs will be returning from Mexico on their way back to Canada again in the spring, and the fall migration will be back next October. Keep an eye out for this beautiful phenomenon!
by Caroline Lonneman
Sources:
Gonzales, Rachel, et al. Butterflies That Remember A Mountain That Disappeared. http://www.hercampus.com/school/hpu/butterflies-remember-mountain-disappeared.
Statesman, RACHEL HAGERIdaho. Captive-Bred Monarch Butterflies Don’t Fly South, Study Says, as Wild Population Shrinks. 30 June 2019, magicvalley.com/news/local/captive-bred-monarch-butterflies-don-t-fly-south-study-says-as-wild-population-shrinks/article_1e8c4295-fe95-590e-8ffe-086738c99cec.html.
U.S. Forest Service. http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/Monarch_Butterfly/migration/index.shtml.
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