Monarch Butterfly - 3 of 3

For your consideration...the following is an excerpt from a radio spot on KAPL radio, Jacksonville, Oregon, called " Akin For the Truth". To listen to the entire spot (a few minutes long), click the little microphone icon....Jack

We’ve been reviewing the amazing process of the development of a Monarch Butterfly, one of nature’s most beautiful creatures, literally transformed from the lowly caterpillar. But just as remarkable is the Monarch’s migration habits.

The monarch butterfly can fly thousands of miles to its wintering locations, and some tagged monarchs have been known to travel from Canada to the Neovolcanic Mountains of Mexico, a distance of 3000 miles and a two-month trip. Each Autumn, thousands of Monarch Butterflies gather in southern Canada to migrate south, just to winter in Mexico, Cuba, Pacific Grove, and Newark, California. This wintering period allows them to hibernate, thus conserving their energy. During this interval they eat and drink little, thus enabling some of them to live as long as one year. You can see them flying around and almost blocking the sky, and you will hear the fascinating sound of their wings flapping. During their long flight there is a great danger from predators. The monarch butterflies are the only insects on Earth to migrate annually over continental distances, and it is estimated that over 300 million of these fantastic creatures migrate to Mexico every year.