The Great Monarch Migration

The monarch butterfly (Danaus Plexippus) conducts the longest annual, regularly repeated migration among all insects. It inherits the genetic behavioral program that enables this wondrous migration. Year over year, their sophisticated orientation and positioning mechanisms allow the off-spring four to six generations later to arrive at the exact same tree where its ancestor arrived the previous year.

During its annual cycle, the monarch resides between Mexico, the United States of America and Canada. There is no other case in the world in which butterflies travel over 4,500 kilometers to arrive at the same site each year.

During the winter months, a population of between 200 millions and one billion monarchs concentrate in a small, alpine Oyamel Fir forest in central Mexico—

the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere.