Monarch butterflies in Michoacán, Mexico

© Alejandro Prieto/Minden Picture

Flight of the monarchs. Monarch butterflies migrate south

While spring may have started to blossom on our shores, on the other side of the hemisphere, the beginning of autumn kicks off a seriously lengthy journey for this population of monarch butterflies. These insects migrate from southern Canada to their wintering habitat in central Mexico – a trip that will total some 4800 kilometres. There, they cluster together in fir trees, creating the illusion of orange, fluttering foliage. They’ll remain in their winter roosts until March, when the journey back north begins. But no one individual monarch will complete the full round trip, which exceeds its normal lifespan; instead four generations of the butterfly will hatch as part of the migration, each seemingly driven by an internal compass that guides their flight path.