Monarch Butterfly Small Journal

The following description appears on the inside cover of your small journal.

DESCRIPTION

Monarchs occur throughout the US and much of the world, wherever milkweeds grow. Female monarch butterflies normally deposit their tiny eggs on the underside of milkweed leaves. The emerging caterpillars feed on the leaves, even though they contain alkaloids, distasteful compounds which, along with similar compounds, form the plant world’s main line of defense against insects and other herbivores. Monarchs have evolved an immunity to milkweed’s toxic effects, in fact they concentrate the alkaloids in their body tissues, becoming distasteful to birds and other predators. The monarch’s bright warning coloration discourages potential predators from attempting an unpalatable meal.

Monarchs are well known as one of the few migratory butterflies. The last generation of the summer heads leisurely southward, often congregating with other monarchs in large bands and stopping in the same rest spots each year.

Monarchs can teach us to enjoy the dance of life; butterflies remind us that change can occur without trauma.

artwork by Christi Sobel

text by Steve Sierigk