WHAT ARE THE 7 MOST AMAZING FACTS ABOUT MONARCH BUTTERFLIES?

Monarch butterfly

Monarch butterflies lay their eggs on milkweed plants and caterpillars exclusively feed on the same plant.
When they hatch, the first thing the larvae (caterpillars) feed on is their egg shells. They grow into colorful caterpillars which make a protective case around themselves as they change from the worm to the pupa stage.
They have beautiful orange, black and white colors with wingspans of 3.7 to 4.1 inches (9.4 to 10.5 cm).
Monarch butterflies weigh 0.95 to 2.6 hundredth of an ounce (0.27 to 0.75g) and a lifespan of 6 to 8 months.
They fly from Canada in the fall ahead of the winter to grounds in California and Mexico, covering a distance of up to 3,000 miles (4,830 kilometers).
It is the butterflies that are born in early fall and late summer that migrate. Millions of them unerringly cross plains, rivers, mountains, and lakes to hibernation sites in central Mexico where they have never been before.
Monarch butterflies can attain darting speeds of 35 kilometers per hour (22 miles/hour). Their gliding and soaring speeds have been estimated at 12 and 18 kilometers per hour (7 and 11 miles/hour) respectively.