Monarch Butterfly

(Danaus plexippus)

Life Cycle

  • Egg: A female butterfly lays a tiny white egg on a milkweed leaf.
  • Caterpillar: The egg hatches into a caterpillar that eats milkweed and grows fast.
  • Chrysalis: The caterpillar turns into a hard green pod called a chrysalis to change its body.
  • Butterfly: An adult monarch emerges with bright orange and black wings.

Camera: iPhone 16 ProMax

Location: Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA

Monarch Butterfly

Distribution: In the Americas, the monarch ranges from southern Canada through northern South America. It is also found in Bermuda, the Cook Islands, Hawaii, Cuba, and other Caribbean islands, the Solomons, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Australia, the Azores, the Canary Islands, Madeira, continental Portugal, Gibraltar, the Philippines, and Morocco. It appears in the UK in some years as an accidental migrant.

How these butterflies find a destination they have never seen remains one of nature’s greatest mysteries. Guided by the sun, the Earth’s magnetic field, and deep inherited instinct, they return to the same trees year after year.