350: Monarch Butterfly

It's fall yall - time for Ellen and Christian to embark on a multi-generational odyssey with monarch butterflies. We discuss why butterflies are total heartstoppers and their style twins, real-life shinies, what's going on inside a chrysalis, an annual journey that takes multiple generations to finish, how to best support wild monarch butterflies, and so much more.

Works Cited:

• "Danaus plexippus" - U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
• “Predator induced colour polymorphism in Danaus plexippus L. (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) in Hawaii” - John Stimson and Mark Berman, Heredity, March 1990
• “Comparative unpalatability of mimetic Viceroy butterflies (Limenitis archippus) from 4 South-Eastern United-States populations” - David B. Ritland, Oecologia, Jan 1995
• “What was learned?” - Monarch Watch,  University of Kansas
• "The phenomenal monarch migration" - Mara Koenig, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
• “An experimental displacement and over 50 years of tag-recoveries show that monarch butterflies are not true navigators” - Henrik Mouritsen et al., PNAS, April 2013
• "Joint Statement Regarding Captive Breeding and Releasing of Monarchs"
• “Is Captive Rearing Hurting Monarchs?” - Elizabeth Anne brown, National Wildlife Federation, March 2026

Links:

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