Have you ever wondered about the different species of butterflies and what each one does? Well, today I am going to share to you about one of the species with you, they are called the monarch butterflies (scientific name: Danaus plexippus).

the monarch butterfly belongs to the Kingdom Animalia because it can move to find food,shelter,mate, and to escape from enemies.

they eat all sorts of milkweed. but in the fall/spring when that milkweed is dead they eat: dogbane, lilac, red clover, lantana, and thistles. goldenrods, blazing stars, ironweed, and tickseed sunflower.

the first generation (of the year) is born in March or April, second=May-June, third=July-August, forth= September-October. the adult male breeds the female in the air, brings her to the grounds, then breeds with her.

physical characteristics of a monarch butterfly are that they have a wingspan of 8.6-12.4 cm, have a reddish-orange coloured wings with black vein-like lines. The border of the wing is black with white dots. The female veins are also thicker

. Some the adaptations that God gave this wonderful creature was that the fourth generation migrates to the south during August-October while storing body fat and once they get there, they clusters together and they are inactive from November to May using their body fat to stay alive through until May. Another amazing feature is that they have a bright orange colour that is a type of advertising colouration witch warns its predators away. The last adaptation they have is that they eat milkweed, which makes them have cardiac glycosides because most milkweeds have them, makes them tastes really bad. Something that still amazes me is that the fourth generation lives so much longer that the first three in order to continue the making new generations of butterflies.

the monarch butterfly likes open habitats such as field areas, marshes and road sides.mainly sighted in the US, although there are a very few in the prairies.

this shows that God is creative, he even made the genders slightly different,wise, every thing has it's own purpose,and caring, because he lets the monarch butterflies continue making new generations and that he lets and helps them adapt.

info taken from: 1:http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Danaus-plexippus
2:http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/monarch.htm
3:http://www.monarch-butterfly.com/