Did you know that monarch butterflies can travel up to 50–100 miles a day? Multiply that number by about two months, and you’ve calculated the distance it takes monarchs to migrate to Mexico. Millions of monarchs partake in the massive migration from the regions of the US and Canada to arrive in Mexico to hibernate.
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This is a migrating Monarch butterfly feeding on a wildflower at an urban park in the city of San Antonio, Texas.
Photo by: Gabriel Perez
Gabriel Perez
According to the US Forest Service, monarch butterflies are the only known of its species to make a two-way migration. Contrary to other butterflies, monarch populations migrate to Mexico to escape the winter season in the northern climates. NPR explains that cold, damp weather is considered fatal for monarchs, while hotter, drier summers alter their habitats in the north. 2020, however, saw a 26% decline from the year prior in migration patterns identified in a report from the World Wildlife Fund and the Mexican government. With this decline, Mexico's Commission for Natural Protected Areas said, "The butterflies' population occupied only 2.10 hectares in 2020, compared to 2.8 hectares a year earlier. And the monarch Biosphere Reserve in Michoacán, Mexico, lost trees at a higher rate than it did in 2019.” Consequently, this tells us that climate factors are a key role in the monarch’s migratory process.