Now that the weather has begun to get a little colder we’ll start to see one of the first signs of winter. Their majesties the monarchs begin to arrive. What are they anyway?

Have you ever been driving along in your car along the beach road in the late fall and seen what looks like a miniature Auburn fan flying through the air and about to hit your windshield?

Relax, it’s not a tiger fan that has had too much cheer and fallen off the bus but a monarch butterfly heading south for the winter. The Monarch (Danaus plexippus) is common around the northern Gulf Coast this time of year, though it’s at the very end of their season. The adult monarchs are bright orange with black edges running around their wings and black veins throughout. The body is black with white spots. You can tell the boys from the girls by the dark spot on the hindwings that are called scent scales.

Besides its coloration, one very interesting things about the monarch is that it’s poisonous — not deadly poisonous — but any animal that eats it will get very sick.

The monarch gets its poison when it is in the larval stage by eating a plant called milkweed. It’s called milkweed because its sap is thick and milky white. Farmers consider the milkweed a plant pest and they’re glad to see the Monarch around. Milkweed and other plants in its family contain a compound from a group called glycosides, which are all poisonous.

Any plant, animal or insect that’s highly visible like the Monarch and lives long enough to reproduce is giving out a very strong sign to stay away from it.

A counter example of this would be any animal that’s an albino. They usually don’t live long enough to reproduce, and potential mates avoid them because they’re different. The poisonous Monarch is mimicked in nature by the non-poisonous North American Viceroy butterfly. It has a very similar shape, color and pattern to the Monarch. I guess it goes to show you that if you look like you’re dangerous or different, people will leave you alone.

Monarchs are found throughout the world in subtropical areas to include the United States, Canada and Mexico. Some Monarchs migrate more than 2,000 miles during August through October, going from Canada and the U.S. to spend the winter in southern California and central Mexico. The females lay their eggs along the way and it takes up to three generations of Monarchs to complete the migration.

Some Monarchs don’t migrate at all and live out their entire lives in the same small area. Once Monarchs reach their final destination they can be found by the tens of thousands concentrated in a very small area.

Think Global – Act Local!

Dr. “Skip” Lazauski can be seen on the television show “Eco-Bites”, which airs on Mediacom’s channel 14 and Smartel’s channel 4. To reach Dr. Lazauski for questions and comments, send e-mail to IchiOrca@yahoo.com. For more information, see his Web site, drskiponline.com.