Did you know that one of the many interesting insects the monarch butterfly? The monarch butterfly has many names for example it is called the storm butterfly. It is called that because whenever a storm is coming it is always near. This butterfly is a invertebrae that means they don’t have a backbone. They have an exoskeleton that means they have a skeleton on the outside. It is very beautiful. It is mostly orange with black stripes and white spots. It’s covered in tiny scales that overlap. Also it has antennas and 2 sets of wings on each side. The monarch butterfly is 3.7 inches long! Isn’t that small!

If you can’t seem to find it you would find it everywhere in the U.S, Southern Canada, Australia, Pacific Islands, Europe, North, South and Central America. Their habitat is pretty simple, trees, bushes or wherever milkweed grows. The monarch sheds its scales and relies on its exoskeleton to grow its scales. Also in the winter it flies to warmer places like California or Mexico.

If you are wondering why they live near milkweed it is because that is what they eat. It protects themselves because if an enemy is near it just wiggles its tail and the enemy thinks it is the monarch’s head because they have antennas on both sides. So they bite their tail and it is less damage. Their enemies are birds, and praying mantises. When they are caterpillars their enemies are birds, praying mantises and other caterpillars. They are harmless to people and people think it is beautiful.

Monarchs most likely live 6 months or more if they don’t get eaten. It also goes through 4 stages in its life. We go through 4 stages first we are babies then child, teenager then finally a grown up. But they go through 4 very different stages first they are in eggs then later they form a cocoon then finally they turn into monarch butterflies. When they are ready to have babies they lay each egg on a different milkweed leaf and then fly away.

When it is a caterpillar it has a pattern on it, it is yellow, black and white. It has feelers on both sides and is very beautiful. It may be fun to take of a monarch from an egg to a butterfly. But as you know it will soon die. I hope you have learned a lot and like them a lot better than you already did.