The Monarch Butterfly

Have you ever heard of a royal butterfly? That would be the monarch butterfly. The monarch butterfly gets its name from its beautiful color and regal look. The monarch butterfly is bright orange with black veins and white dots.

A butterfly is a type of insect. It has six legs, three body parts, wings, and a pair of eyes. The monarch butterfly goes through a long process to get to its final stage. Each butterfly begins as an egg. The larva hatches from the egg in about three to five days. The larvae are in the shape of a caterpillar. In this stage, the larva eats until it gets to be about two inches long, which takes about a week. It will then find a hidden branch. Here it forms into a pupa or a chrysalis. It takes between 10 and 12 days for the butterfly to form and emerge from its chrysalis. As an adult, the butterfly can only drink liquids.

It may surprise you to learn that the monarch butterfly is poisonous. Animals that eat the monarch get sick and vomit. These animals remember the brightly-colored butterfly and learn to avoid it. The nonpoisonous viceroy butterfly mimics the color of the monarch butterfly to avoid being eaten. Monarch butterflies are found in fields, marshes, meadows, and in the garden. You may have a monarch butterfly flying around your garden right now.