Grade 3-6, MS, and HS

B. North American Continent: The Long Journey

Within North America, there are two populations of the monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus, with the
Continental Divide acting as the division line extending from the Arctic Ocean
southward through Mexico. The Rocky Mountains
are part of the Continental Divide and is the dividing
factor between the two monarch populations of North
America. The Eastern Monarch’s population occupies the
larger geographical area and is estimated to be about two
million square miles (Agrawal, p.201). The Eastern
Map 1: North American Monarch population is made up the butterflies east of the
Monarch Migration Map
Source Rocky Mountains and accounts for roughly 99% of all Map 2: North America’s
Continental Divide is shown
North American monarchs (BiologicalDiversity.org) based on the semi-annual by the red line.
Source: USGS
migrating roosting site’s counts completed by Journey North, Monarch Watch, and
the Xerces Society.

The population east of the Rocky Mountains overwintering location is a

specific volcanic area with trees in south central Mexico. The Western
Monarch’s overwintering area is 200 to 300 small groves of trees that are
within 5 miles of the California coast from Ensenada, Baja California to
Marin County, California (the blue dots in Map 1) (Journey North). During

Map 3: North American Fall Monarch the summer months both populations head north all the up to the southern
Migration Relief Map highlighting the
areas of Canada.
importance of the Rocky Mountains
Source: USDA

At present, scientists aren’t sure of the specific trigger(s) for the monarchs on the North American to start their
southern migration from southern Canada and the northern U.S in September. Interestingly, both populations tend to
begin their migrations within the same week. but the migration. encompassing. The 3 factors that have not been
proven to be the cause, but are highly correlated, with the commencement of the monarch butterflies starting their
migrating south are: 1) when the sun’s maximus daily angle of elevation above the horizon approaches 57°; 2) the
nighttime temperatures drop below 60°F, and 3) as the milkweed leaves start to turn brown in late August. A
monarch adult needs a minimum body temperature of 55°F for the liquid in its veins to be able to flow allowing its
wings to flap and thus the ability to obtain nectar from nearby flowers. Below 54°F, D. plexippus is immobile and
below 38°F their vein liquid freezes causing death (Agrawal, p.65). Thus, as fall weather approaches, the North
American adult monarchs leave their summer homes and head for a warmer place to survive the upcoming winter’s
cold and wet weather.
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Using lift, upward sloping wind currents, tailwinds and thermal updrafts (pockets of rising warm air) to
conserve their energy for the long journey ahead, the monarchs of North America typically travel up to 100 miles
per day (Schuetz, p.15), if there are favorable environmental conditions such as the available sunlight is able to keep
their body liquid above 55°F (Agrawal, p.65) and their wings remain dry. They typically fly about 1,500 feet above
the ground to avoid bird predators (Agrawal, p.182) but have been observed by pilots at 11,000 feet (Ranger Rick,
Oct 2022, p.13). At nighttime or during stormy weather, the monarchs gather in clusters at roosting sites along their
flight pathways.

Using the technique of tagging, that was developed at the University of Toronto. tags are applied to the right
hindwing of an adult monarch butterfly in August-September at the summer
breeding habitats. Information is then gathered from the roosting sites as tag
data is collected which allows monarch
scientists to generally plot the fall
migration pathways. It wasn’t until
1975 that a scientist at the university of
Tagging placement on a monarch butterfly. Toronto had a monarch tag returned to
Source: Monarch Watch
him from Mexico that he was able to
finally locate the Eastern Monarchs wintering destinations: central Mexico
(National Geographic, Aug 1976) where the average daily winter
Image of monarch butterflies roosting.
temperature in the roosting trees is 61°F. The distance from Ontario, or Source: Journey North

Newfoundland, in Canada to Mexico’s wintering sites is about 3,000 to 4,400 miles. Western Monarchs do not
migrate as far. They start from northwest of Glacier National Park, which is located in northern Montana and
southern Canada, to the southern California coast which is around 2,200 miles. Pacific Grove, California, which is a
major overwintering site, also has an average winter daily temperature is about 62°F.

Monarchs begin arriving at Mexico’s wintering

sites in mid-November. The Pacific Grove
Monarch Sanctuary begins their Thanksgiving
Count the first week of October and continue each
week through the first week of December. In 2022,
they observed the first arrival during the second
week of October.
Fall 2022 Thanksgiving Monarch Count at Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary.
Source: Monarch Sanctuary
In March, after spending about four months
almost motionless at the wintering sites, each North American population begins the journey towards their
respective summer home’s habitats. When they depart their wintering sites, the Eastern Monarchs mate in Mexico or
Texas (Agrawal, p.72) while the Western Monarchs mate in California (XercesSociety.org). The males soon die
 Grade 3-6, MS, and HS

after mating and the females continue the journey as they each lay up to
500 eggs (Agrawal, p. 80-81). The eggs are laid on young, or just
sprouting, milkweed plants. These plants will be the home for the that
year’s first generation of monarch caterpillars.

Map 4: North American Spring Monarch

Migration Relief Map highlighting the Once the female is done laying her
importance of the Rocky Mountains.
Source: USDA eggs she will die. This typically happens
within two weeks of the beginning of the egg laying process. In three to four
weeks her children will eclose and continue the journey towards the summer
habitat.
Milkweed leaf with a monarch egg.
Source

In his 2017 book, Professor Agrawal of Cornell University noted that some of the tagged Eastern Monarchs had
been found to have “flown west of the continental divide and join the California population of monarchs” thus
providing the earliest scientific evidence of a mixing of the gene pool between the two North American populations
on a yearly basis (Agrawal, p.82).

In a 2020 research article in “Molecular Ecology”, the authors confirmed the tagging observations of the prior
few years which has been reported Agrawal’s 2017 book. As another monarch research scientist wrote in his review
of the scholarly 2020 report:
“This evidence builds on a number of prior studies
conducted over the past twenty years using now
outdated techniques which have also failed to find
evidence of genetic differences… The 2020 report
surmised that there must be enough ‘gene flow’
between the two populations, and intermingling, to
ensure that the cells have exactly the same genes. That’s
a fancy way to say that there must be some monarchs
that travel from one population and mix with the
Map 5: North America Monarch Populations
monarchs from the other population, and this must happen often showing their wintering locations as well.
Source: Journey North
enough so that their genetic makeup is all the same across all of
North America (monarchscience.org).”
This reviewer/scientist from the University of Georgia continued with “These results imply that it is something
about the environment where the monarchs grew up (passed through metamorphosis) and not their genes that make
monarchs from the East and West differ in wing morphology and in-flight performance” as demonstrated in the
2020 article (Molecular Ecology).
 Grade 3-6, MS, and HS

Discovered in 2003, confirmed in 2017(Agrawal), and proven in 2020

(Molecular Ecology), monarchs all across North America use their time-of-day-
compensated sun compass plus the earth’s magnetic field as a map to guide them on
their semi-annual journeys (Agrawal, p.186-92). Also confirmed in in 2017 was that
the migrating monarchs have clearly larger forewings as compared to the non-
migrating monarch found on other continents and their nearby island groups.
(Agrawal, P. 182)
Measuring the length of a monarch's
wing.
The 2002 Molecular Ecology article stated that the only physical difference Source: Research Gate
between the Eastern and Western Monarch was the wingspan. The Eastern Monarch had an average forewing
wingspan of 4⅞” total wingspan for the male and a 5” for the female. Whereas the Western Monarch was at 3¾” for
the male and 4⅛” for the female. They additionally noted that the longer wingspan would be needed for more lift
during the longer distances required of the Eastern Monarch’s migration journeys (Molecular Ecology).

After three to four generations of the metamorphosis cycle, the fall

migration season begins and the year is completed with the monarchs
returning to their respective wintering sites: Mexico for the Eastern
population and California for the Western Monarch population
(Agrawal, p. 64 and 89).

The Eastern Monarch butterfly has the longest migration route of

any insect while weighing less than a paper clip. As they migrate, they
are only fueled by water and sugar from flower nectar and endure flying
for 11-15 hours per day. It takes 5 generations and about 7 months
traveling, with a single butterfly flying as far as 4,400 miles one way,
while crossing international boarders (from Mexico to the US to
Canada and back) to complete their full migration. Then to overwinter just to repeat the process again the following
year is truly amazing.

The following is a set of maps complied from Journey North that shows the weekly sighting for North America
during the spring migration.
 Grade 3-6, MS, and HS

Spring Weekly Monarch Migration

From Journey North
How far north do they go?
Grade 3-6, MS, and HS
 Grade 3-6, MS, and HS

Sources:

Agrawal, Anurag A.. Monarchs and Milkweed. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2017.

Center for Biological Diversity. (2022, May 24). Eastern monarch butterfly population up slightly, still below
extinction threshold. Center for Biological Diversity. Retrieved January 3, 2023, from
https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/eastern-monarch-butterfly-population-up-slightly-still-
below-extinction-threshold-2022- 05-
24/#:~:text=The%20eastern%20monarch%20population%20is%20made%20up%20the,fir%20forests%20on
%20high-elevation%20mountaintops%20in%20central%20Mexico.

Education.nationalgeographic.org. (n.d.). Retrieved January 3, 2023, from https://education.nationalgeographic.org/

Genomic evidence for gene flow between monarchs ... - wiley online library. (n.d.). Retrieved January 3, 2023, from
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/mec.15508

Map of the Continental Divide in North America. 26548.jpg | U.S. Geological Survey. (n.d.). Retrieved January 3,
2023, from https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/26548jpg

Monarch Butterfly & Milkweed Project. Monarch Butterflies. (n.d.). Retrieved January 3, 2023, from
https://journeynorth.org/monarchs

Monarch Butterfly Conservation. Xerces Society. (n.d.). Retrieved January 3, 2023, from
https://xerces.org/monarchs

monarchscience. (n.d.). Retrieved January 3, 2023, from https://www.monarchscience.org/

National Wildlife Federation. Ranger Rick's Zoobooks: Butterflies. Reston, VA: National Wildlife Federation, v. 39
no. 9 (October 2022).

Phan, B. (2022, December 12). Monarch butterflies returning in good numbers to Pacific Grove. The Mercury
News. Retrieved January 3, 2023, from https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/12/10/monarch-butterflies-
returning-in-good-numbers-to-pacific-grove/

Proper hand and ruler positioning for taking standardized right ... (n.d.). Retrieved January 3, 2023, from
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Proper-hand-and-ruler-positioning-for-taking-standardized-right-
forewing-length_fig2_232702543

Schuetz, Kari. Monarch Butterfly Migration. Minneapolis: Bellwether Media, 2019.

Two monarch butterfly populations in North America. (n.d.). Retrieved January 3, 2023, from
https://journeynorth.org/tm/monarch/Populations_EastWest.html

U.S. Forest Service. Forest Service Shield. (n.d.). Retrieved January 3, 2023, from
https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/pollinators/Monarch_Butterfly/migration/index.shtml

Retrieved January 3, 2023, from https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/all/get-rid-of-httpss3us-east-

2amazonawscom/a43b9e99-3469-4f8d-93ca-54d0d86315fe
 Name: ____________________________________

Worksheet Migration Part B – Reading Comprehension:

1. What is the mountain range that separate the Eastern and Western Monarchs?

_______________________

2. What percent do the Western Monarch butterflies make up of the total North American Butterfly

population? ____________

3. What are 2 reasons that were given as to why monarchs fly so high when they migrate?

a. ___________________________________

b. ___________________________________

4. The average daily temperature for the overwinter locations is ___________ for the Eastern and

_________ for the Western Monarch.

5. Do the Eastern and Western Monarch populations mix often? __________

6. The Western Monarch overwintering area is within how many miles of the ocean? ___________

a. Which group of monarch tends to have larger wings? Male/Female_____________

b. Which group of monarch tends to have larger wings? Eastern/Western ______________

c. Why?

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________
 Name: ____________________________________

Worksheet Migration Part B - Research Questions:

1. What is the name of the Mexican province that is the main wintering site for the Eastern Monarch?
a. What is its elevation? ___________________
b. Could milkweed grow here? ___________________
c. Do adult monarchs need milkweed as their sole food source? Yes / No

2. What 3 types of trees do Eastern Monarchs cling to for 4 months while roosting?

1. __________________________________

2. __________________________________

3. __________________________________

3. Last winter, what was the coldest temperature recorded for where you live? ___________________

a. Would a monarch be able to survive the winter there? Yes / No

4. In what year since 2010 did an ice and windstorm at the Mexico roosting sites cause a massive number of

monarch deaths? __________________

a. How many monarchs perished because of this? ____________________

5. How many monarchs perished in the January of 2002 winter storm in Mexico? ____________________

6. How far away from the coastline are most of the Californian winter roosting sites? ___________________
a. Why don’t they roost in a tree on a beach?

7. What 3 types of trees do Western Monarchs cling to for 4 months while roosting? ___________________

8. List 4 reasons why North American monarchs migrate:

1. __________________________________

2. __________________________________

3. __________________________________

4. __________________________________

9. What environmental causes could account for the differences in the wingspan of Eastern vs. Western
Monarchs? Write some of your ideas. (turn the paper over it you need more space)