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Everyone has seen the monarch butterflies before. They’re the most common and certainly the most well-known of the butterflies. Many people know that when the cold weather is coming, these butterflies migrate towards the south. However, they don’t always know about the cataloguing system.
Many monarch butterflies live in the upper east, near the beaches. When it gets cold, they fly over the Appalachian mountains towards Florida, California, Texas, and Mexico. They fly up to eighty miles a day while migrating south. They remain down south for about five months before returning to the north. While they are down south, they live in large groups on trees or other places. Sometimes one will see a tree that is entirely covered in butterflies. The longest documented one-way migration recorded is 1870 miles. The average Monarch's migration of course may not be that long. Monarch butterflies make this trip twice in their two-year life span.
When these butterflies are captured (a few are, not all), they are tagged. A small bit of the dust on their wing is rubbed off (without this dust, they couldn’t fly and would subsequently die) and a numbered tag placed on it. These butterflies are then traced throughout their lives.
Whenever a naturalist sees such a butterfly, s/he will gently capture it and take the number. This will then be recorded so the migration path can be traced. Sometimes naturalists look for butterflies they have tagged themselves. On occasion they are lucky enough to see the exact same butterfly more than once.
Through this method, we have learned where butterflies live in the summer, where they go in the winter, how far they fly, how long they stay in one place, maybe even approximately how long it takes them.
Some people are superstitious about butterflies, believing that they are carriers of good wishes and luck. Some even believe that they come directly from the gods. Out in the west, and other places where it’s warm, there are actually butterfly farmers. These places raise butterflies entirely in captivity, then give them to people to release during celebrations. Most of these are out in Hawaii. This is done because of the belief that butterflies can bring good luck.
Monarch butterflies have reddish wings that span 10 cm. The wings have black lines and two rows of white dots on them. To many, they are among the most beautiful creatures on the planet. The larvae of the monarch butterflies hatch on the underside of milkweed leaves, which the larvae eat. This provides them with a chemical that repels predators, who learn to recognize the monarch butterfly’s bright colors. They live mainly in North America, though they are found throughout the world.
In recent times, we have had some trouble with monarch butterflies. Scientists who genetically engineered and planted corn plants had the pesticide blow onto milkweed leaves. Unfortunately, this affected the monarch butterflies when the larvae ate the leaves. Scientists are trying to decide what to do about it, because many do indeed regard the butterflies as mystical and don’t want to see anything disrupt their pattern of life.
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