Figgerin' that there may be a few other folks, that may enjoy the 'read' ...
- Magpye
Quoting:
We tend to think the great mysteries of life are hidden in far-away places. The people, things and creatures we see every day or every year seem to be open books, old hat, boring facts of life we can safely take for granted.
This time of year always reminds me how false those ideas are, when I look around and see the monarchs heading south. These tiny travelers, each weighing about as much as a grain of rice, make up the most amazing migration in the world.
A recent afternoon of idle monarch-watching left plenty of questions in my mind. I had to admit my ignorance about something I've enjoyed all my life.
Scientists at the University of Kansas and the University of Wisconsin have made a large cache of monarch lore available on the internet, so I went there hoping to find all the answers.
It was nice to find that the monarch leaves the experts as fascinated, mystified and yes, awed as the rest of us.
In their summer territory, which includes most of North America, the monarchs live quiet, brief (two to six weeks) lives. Three to seven generations of the beautiful insects mate and reproduce. Then, as the days grow shorter a generation of non-reproductive monarchs hatch.
In one of the great mysteries of nature, two identical but completely different types of monarchs serve different functions. The reproductive butterflies don't head south, and the migrating butterflies won't reproduce until after they make their incredible journey and hibernate through the mild Mexican winter.
As soon as the late-season monarch caterpillar emerges as a butterfly, it starts storing fat for its long trip. This tiny drop of fat fuels a flight of one to three thousand miles, and has to last through the hibernation season. As they migrate southward, monarchs stop to feed on the nectar of their favorite plants. Many actually gain weight during the trip.
The monarchs that fly through here this time of year may have started their journey in Nova Scotia - no other butterflies in the world make such a long, two-way migration, traveling up to three thousand miles. Each individual butterfly makes the round trip only once. Next autumn's travelers will be the great-great-grandchildren of this year's migration.
The are only twelve places on Earth where the Eastern monarchs snooze, clustered in huge bunches - twelve isolated fir forests in the mountains of southern Mexico. Other, equally rare groves along the coast of California provide winter quarters for monarchs from west of the Rockies.
Researchers are trying to solve the mysteries of the mighty monarch.
How can these tiny wayfarers possibly travel so far? How do they find their winter homes every year, when those making the journey are generations removed from the previous trip?
And, like so many of the world's treasures, the monarchs face challenges to their continued existence. People want to cut down and sell the trees where they winter. It requires constant vigilance and bargaining to protect those sacred groves.
A less direct but serious threat comes from the taming of the North American landscape.
Monarch larvae feed on milkweed. Adults like to eat dogbane and buddleia, purple coneflower and sedum, Joe-Pye weed, Rough Blazing Star, Butterfly Weed, monarda and Phlox.
Monarchs do like azalea. All the other plants they rely on for nourishment are weeds. As more land is domesticated and made into lawns and parking lots, it grows harder for monarchs to find nourishment along their vagabond way. The weeds that feed them are becoming scarcer.
For now, at least, the monarch is a wonder of the natural world. It's more American than apple pie, a beautiful small creature to admire.
It's definitely not just another bug.
The mysteries of this common little insect are a reminder of the mysteries all around us, in all the things and people and blessings we take for granted.
Whether you plant a butterfly garden or not, be sure to enjoy the procession of the monarchs.
10/09/2006 - by G. Holcomb
This message was edited Oct 11, 2006 8:04 AM
