Regal Monarch on Epidendrum

This beautiful Monarch butterfly is actually feeding on tropical milkweed plant in our garden ( not epidendrum). The flowers look much alike.
Each year 40 million monarch butterflies winter in Mexico and southern California.

The monarch, known as the King of the Butterflies, goes through 4 life cycles, the egg, the larvae (caterpillar), the pupa (chrysalis), and the adult butterfly. In March and April, the eggs are laid on the milkweed plants in North America. However, monarch butterflies cannot survive cold weather, so they migrate in October, or sooner, to Mexico and southern California. Monarch butterflies are the only insects that travel 2,500 miles away from their birthplace. Monarch butterflies are poisonous, but not to humans. The chemicals from the milkweed plant they eat gives them a poisonous defense against predators, like frogs, birds, mice, and lizards. The adult monarch, returning north from Mexico, will only live a few months.

Typically, monarchs live between 2 and 6 weeks. The last generation of the year (determined by the decline of nectar plants and environmental factors) do not become sexually mature right after they emerge as adults, as the summer generations do. The late summer butterflies go into what is called reproductive diapause, which means they cannot reproduce. Once spring arrives, the monarchs become mature and reproduce starting the new first generation that make their way north. These monarchs can live much longer for two reasons. They are not using energy to reproduce, and they are in a very cool location. Cool temperatures slow their metabolism, allowing them to live longer.
Most butterflies can survive freezing temperatures during some stage of their lives. Each species winters in a particular stage. For example, swallowtails overwinter as pupae, mourning cloaks overwinter as adults, and viceroys overwinter as small larvae. Monarchs cannot tolerate the cold winters and must migrate to survive the winter temperatures.

There are multiple generations of monarchs each year. The monarchs that arrive in Texas in February are usually those that overwintered in Mexico, but the offspring of these monarchs move further north. The monarchs that arrive in the northern part of their range are the offspring of the generation that wintered in Mexico. There are then two generations that do not migrate. The monarchs that travel south in the late summer to Mexico have never been there before!

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