The beautiful Monarch Butterflies

If you plan a trip to Mexico this winter, you definitely have to see the Monarch Butterflies. These butterflies are very special because every year they make a massive journey to southern California and Mexico to escape the cold weather which will kill them if they tarry too long. Their journey can take up to two months.

Monarch Butterflies born as eggs and hatch as larvae that eat their own eggshells and the milkweed plants on which they were placed. After they ate enough they create a hard protective case around themselves. They emerge as beautifully colored, black-orange-and-white adults.

Where do monarch butterflies migrate to Mexico?

The butterflies that emerge in late summer and early fall are born to fly and know that they must prepare for their journey because of the changing weather. These are also the only butterflies who make the migration. Next winter it will be last year´s migrators´ great grandchildren that make the trip, because several summer generations will have lived and died.

Yet somehow these new generations always know the way, and follow the same routes their ancestors took. The summer butterflies live only for 2-6 weeks, while the winter butterflies can live up to 9 months.

If you want to see these butterflies, go to our website and look for the Monarch Butterfly Tour.

– Chantal van den Boogaert