Monarch+Butterfly

==== ﻿﻿﻿﻿ Monarch Butterfly - //Denuas plexippus//  **Classs:** Insecta **Location:** Many places around the world **Size:** Wingspan 3.7 to 4.1 inches **Habitat:** Monarch Butterflys are found in open habitats including field, meadows, and marshes.
 * Phyla:** Arthropoda

**Life Cycle:** Monarch Butterflies go through complete metamorphosis. It takes the butterfly a whole month for the egg to mature into an adult. The eggs are always laid on the underside of a milkweed leaf. The egg hatches in 3 to 5 days. The larva that hatches from the egg is also called a caterpillar. The caterpillar hatches from the egg and eats it. The caterpillar eats the milkweed leaves almost constantly. The caterpillar loses its skin four times before it goes into its pupa form. During this stage it forms into a butterfly. It takes 10-12 days for the butterfly to form. The adult form continues the life cyle by reproduction.

Male and Female differences: Males have two black spots on the wings of the butterfly. The black webbing arount the wings of the female are thicker than the black webbing on the male butterfly.

Living Requirements: Monarch Butterflies need milkweed and flowering plants for thier habitats. The caterpillars eat milkweed leaves most of the time. The adults feed on the nectar in the flowers. They breed only where milkweeds grow.

Monarch Butterflies have become endangered mostly because of climate change. They are also endangered because of people cutting the plants they feed off of. The butterflies in North America protect the butterflies by putting them in conservation areas.


 * Interesting Facts: **
 * The females can lay up to 100 eggs on a single plant.
 * Monarch Butterflies can migrate up to 3,000 miles.
 * Only the butterflies born in late summer make the migration, and only makes one round trip.

**Human Impact:** Something that can harm the Monarch Butterfly is the pollen calle Bt Corn Pollen. It can effect the laravae and may lead to death. Something else that humans do that harm the butterflies is cut down the milkweed plants. There has also been a lot of wildfires that destroy the milkweeds. A way to help them survive is putting them in conservations to help protect them. People in charge of the conservations would need to grow lots of milkweeds.



Zookeeper: Marissa Jenkins References:[] [] []