Mike Unwin explores just how far this remarkable butterfly species travels when migrating <\/p>
The monarch butterfly Danaus plexippus is renowned for its two-way annual migration in North America, though it\u2019s also found in New Zealand and Australia, where it\u2019s called the wanderer.<\/p>\n
In autumn, all of the monarchs in Canada and northern USA migrate south to Baja California and, most famously, the fir groves of Mexico\u2019s Michoac\u00e1n Province, where they take shelter through winter.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> In the volcanic mountains of central Mexico, the cool, sheltered conditions provide the monarchs with a perfect winter refuge: not cold enough to kill them; not warm enough to wake them too early.<\/p>\n They arrive in October after their 3,000km journey from the USA, and cluster together in a near-hibernation<\/a><\/strong>-like state known as torpor<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n In February, awakening males begin to pursue females in fluttering courtship ballets, before heading north in March, completing the annual two-way migration.<\/p>\n\n