Download Monarch Butterfly`s Mysterious Life

Monarch Butterfly’s Mysterious Life
By: William Waterway
(excerpted from: Water Voices from Around The World
[www.watervoices.com])
Insects comprise more than 60% of all species on Earth.
It is estimated that 30 million species of insects
exist while only a little over 1 million are known to
science. Out of the known 1 million species, about
1/10th of 1% are considered pests.
Out of all the insect species, one that is most evident
and mysterious is the Monarch Butterfly.
According to fossil recent information discovered in
the United States, ancestors of the Monarch Butterfly
existed in large numbers 35 million years ago. After
surviving tens of millions of years of environmental
upheavals, ice ages, and severe climate change Monarch Butterflies are threatened with extinction due
to toxic poisons and recent habitat destruction.
Today, scientific researchers remain befuddled as they
make attempts at unraveling the mysterious behavioral
and reproductive patterns of the Monarch Butterfly.
Each spring and summer, hundreds of millions of Monarch
Butterflies migrate from parts of Mexico and southern
California. As they flitter and flutter from one plant
to another, they pollinate billions of plants crucial
for the survival of humankind.
Driven by unknown forces, they traverse most of the
United States and portions of southern Canada. As each
successive generation migrates northward through the
summer, and as only one long-lived generation returns
in the fall, Monarchs drink water from untold billions
of rain drops; springs; rivers; brooks; lakes; ponds;
rainfall puddles, and other sources.
Besides surviving threats of weather and predation –
Monarchs must also survive destruction of their habitat
and food sources through expanding agriculture and
development. As well, there is the threat of chemicals
from aerial exposure and in their drinking water from
industrial and agricultural discharges, and polluted
atmospheric fallout.
The presence of Monarchs on Earth provides us with a
life form that is beautiful, useful, and mysterious.
Most importantly, Monarchs are considered to be
efficient pollinators for many flowering plants that
have evolved in harmony with the butterflies over
millions of years.
Today, the Monarch Butterfly is a life form whose
transformative life cycle befuddles scientists - for
much of the Monarch’s behavior and magical
metamorphosis from egg to butterfly is shrouded in
mystery.
The Transformative Life Cycle
In spring, Monarchs leave their southern wintering
grounds and migrate north into Southern United States.
As they fly north – they exclusively seek out milkweed
in the genus Asclepias and other genera of viny
milkweeds. These are the only plants that Monarch
larvae feed on.
Adult females will deposit about 400 eggs on the
underside of milkweed leaves. Each egg is about the
size of the period at the end of this sentence. In 3 to
12 days the eggs hatch into larvae that begin feeding
on the poisonous milkweed. The milkweed toxins are
absorbed into the skin of the larvae as a form of
natural defense.
Since not all species of milkweed produce poisonous
cardiac glycosides, and given the fact that out of 100
species of milkweed - some tend to be more poisonous
than others, Monarch larvae and butterflies will carry
various levels of protective toxins.
The larval stage lasts about 2 weeks, as the
caterpillars shed their skin (moult) five times and
grow to a plump 2 inches in length, and weigh about
2,700 times more than when hatched. During its fifth
moult, the caterpillar attaches itself head down to a
branch. In a matter of hours the caterpillar will shed
its skin and form itself into a large water-drop shaped
womb (called a pupa or chrysalis). In about 2 weeks – a
mysterious, little understood metamorphosis takes place
as the caterpillar transforms itself into a majestic
butterfly.
When the adult monarch butterfly emerges from the pupa
– its wings are wet and its abdomen is engorged with
fluid. While hanging upside down, the butterfly will
inflate the veins in its wings with the abdominal
fluid, and then rest while its wings dry and its
abdomen shrinks. The milkweed poison once stored in its
caterpillar skin will now be fixed in the butterfly’s
ectoskeleton and wings. Soon after, the Monarch will
instinctively fly northward. In about 8 days the
butterfly will develop sexual organs, mate, and deposit
eggs on milkweed. When these eggs hatch and become
butterflies – they too will continue to fly northward.
The Migration Mystery
As they fly north, Monarch Butterflies drink water from
streams, dew, fog, and rainfall, and feed on the nectar
of various flowers. They are considered by scientists
to be important pollinators. Each adult will live for
about 4 to 5 weeks. After about 4 or 5 generations of
flying northward, some Monarchs will find themselves as
far north as Southeastern Canada.
On a related note, the Monarch Butterfly is one of the
few insects with the ability to survive a transatlantic
crossing. At one time they were common in Bermuda, but
due to milkweed eradication programs, are becoming
endangered. Sometimes, under certain wind conditions,
Monarchs can end up in the far southwest of Great
Britain.
The Monarch Butterflies that hatch at the end of summer
are different than the generations of summer Monarchs
that lived before them during the northern migration.
Upon hatching, the late summer Monarchs’ sexual organs
do not develop. Instead of mating and having offspring,
they flutter around feeding on nectar and drinking
water, and after two to three months they begin to
flock together.
This generation of Monarchs will survive for 7 to 8
months, and is called the “Methuselah generation” –
named after the patriarchal figure in the Bible who
lived 969 years. In human terms, given an average life
of 75 years, this is like having a generation of
children who live for 525 years.
During September and October, flocks of Monarchs fly
south from their birthing locations in Canada and the
United States; along the way they will drink water from
many streams, ponds, lakes and rain puddles, and feed
on flower nectar.
The distance some butterflies will travel to reach
their wintering grounds in Mexico (also, Cuba, and the
California towns of Santa Cruz, Newark, and Pacific
Grove) - is between 2,000 and 4,800 linear kilometers
(1,200 to 3,000 miles). Monarch’s, which are also known
as the “Wanderer Butterfly” in Australia, don’t fly in
a straight line – so they may actually travel distances
of 6,000 to 15,000 kilometers (3,600 to 9,000 miles).
The mystery of the Monarch Butterfly migration has two
dimensions
1. We do not know why each generation of Monarch’s born
during the summer continues to fly northward. And, we
do not know how Monarchs determine what direction to
navigate. Current theories include the Monarch using
one or several of the following: internal magnetic
compass; sun and stars; rotation of Earth; sensing of
Earth's internal iron crystal; genetic encoding;
weather patterns; plant sensing, and other factors.
2. “Methuselah generation” Monarchs are born in
northern latitudes, and are the great-great-great
grandchildren of ancestors who took the arduous journey
from the northern latitudes the previous year. How
these Monarchs know how to fly south and find the small
geographical areas that have unique microclimates for
their winter survival remains a mystery. Even more of a
mystery, is that hibernating Monarchs prefer to gather
in the exact same trees as their ancestors.
Even though theories abound, it is thought that a socalled “ghost memory” of sorts is operative in the
Methuselah generation. “Ghost memory” [WEM coined word]
is the imprinted memory from one’s ancestors. In a
fashion, this adds a spiritual dimension as to how
one’s ancestors may continue to perpetuate their
presence on Earth, while at the same time embedding
genetic information for the survival of their offspring
far into the future.
This ghost memory may actually be inherited information
imprinted into the DNA of the Monarchs through the
hydrogen bonding process akin to water. Perhaps, when
key cosmic and environmental triggers present
themselves – this ghost memory becomes activated, and
the Monarchs know when and where to go in order to find
the safe winter haven of their ancestors.
The Hibernation Water Story
The Monarch’s hibernate in the temperate pine and
oyamel fir forests situated high in Mexico’s mountain
region of Michoacan. It is unknown as to how many
hundreds or thousands of years the Monarchs have
hibernated in the same location.
Monarch hibernation locations in Mexico were first
discovered in modernity on January 12, 1975. However,
as evidenced in the art and myths of Mexico’s ancient
civilizations, it is believed there was knowledge of
these hibernation sites for thousands of years.
Upon arrival at their hibernation sites in late October
and early November, Monarchs’ begin to live off of
stored fat and nutrients from their flight south. Over
the next 4 months of hibernation, their only nutrient
intake will be water from rain puddles, and the brooks
and streams that make up the Balsas river basin.
If the weather is cloudy and cold, the butterflies will
stay huddled together in the trees for warmth and
protection. However, once the sun comes out, the air
fills with the magical sight and musical tone of
millions and millions of butterfly wings as they take
to the air for exercise and to drink water from nearby
streams.
Special conditions found only in small pockets of the
oyamel fir forest are capable of creating the necessary
microclimates that support survival of hibernating
Monarchs. Local environmental factors such as humidity;
wind exposure; temperature range; tree density, height
and canopy; sunlight, and easy access to quality
drinking water – help form the unique microclimate
required by the Monarchs.
The location of the oyamel fir forest in a humid
temperate zone makes it part of a complex, sensitive,
interdependent ecosystem. Besides salamanders; snakes;
hummingbirds; axolotls; tree frogs; mice; rabbits;
lizards; 130 bird species; and an assortment of other
amphibian, reptile and animal inhabitants – the moist
oyamel fir forest floor is also home to a thriving
population of mosses and mushrooms.
The mushrooms alone make a significant contribution to
the health of the pine and fir trees where the Monarchs
roost. As rodents and other influences scatter mushroom
spores across the forest floor, the spores help nourish
the secondary roots of the pine and fir trees. With the
help of these mushroom filaments – the forest trees are
able to obtain nutrients and manufacture protoplasm
from the soils for healthy growth. The mushrooms also
produce underground fruits that rodents dig up, eat,
and scatter around the forest – thus helping to aerate
and fertilize the moist soils.
In most years, the humidity and other environmental
factors of the Monarch’s forest is relatively stable
from November to mid-February, and the butterfly
population remains stationary. However, as temperatures
rise in the second half of February, the humidity of
the high mountain forests decreases. When this occurs,
the butterflies leave their roosts on the high slopes,
and move to lower and more humid elevations closer to
the flowing streams of water.
At the end of February and in March, hundreds of
millions of Monarchs take to the air to perform mating
acrobatics. When successful, physical mating is
consummated on the ground. Soon after, the cycle of the
Monarch Butterfly continues as the Methuselah
generation flies north into the southern United States,
lays their eggs on milkweed leaves, and dies after
enjoying a relatively long life.