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Home > Blogs > Birds and Butterflies > Archives > 2008 > November > 24 > Entry
Why Do Butterflies Migrate?
Migration for butterflies is very similar to why birds migrate. They are looking for a warmer claimant to spend the winter. Just like some birds a butterfly’s food source is not available in this area during the winter. The butterflies may travel thousands of miles to find a place to spend the winter, like the monarchs that migrate to Mexico, or they may travel just a few hundred miles, like the painted lady or red admiral to southern states. Unlike the birds that return each spring the butterflies that return to our area are not the same adults that left in the fall. For the adult butterflies it is just a one way trip. These adults will spend the winter months but when spring arrives they will only start the migration back. The adults will mate and the female will lay eggs, shortly after that they die. It is the next generations that continue the journey back. For some of the migrating butterflies they will be four to five generations removed from the adult that made the fall migration. Scientists are still unsure how these tiny little creatures find their way but each year more information is discovered about butterfly migration. Thanks to organizations like Monarch Watch some day we may know the answer to the question of how they make is incredible journey.
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