Wildlife Spectacle: The Butterfly Effect Monarch butterflies,
each smaller than the palm of your hand, migrate thousands of
miles every year, thus ensuring the survival of the species.
From November to March, black-and-orange flecks fill the sky in
central Mexico’s mountains and along the California coast. These
airborne dots are monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus)
flitting about in their winter habitat. They flutter and float
by day; before the sun disappears, they glide to the trees and
gather in clusters, creating a forest of tangerine-tinted trunks
as they huddle together for warmth. Anyone lucky enough to
witness this display is privy to a mysterious phenomenon. Though
these animals, part of the Lepidoptera insect order, weigh only
as much as a paper clip, they migrate up to 3,000 miles
annually, using the sun’s position in the sky to stay on course.
Their Mexican wintering sites were unknown until 1975, when
Kenneth Brugger, working with monarch researchers Fred and Norah
Urquhart, discovered a colon