Coco the Butterfly

Abstract 

This a study on the behaviors of a monarch butterfly that was observed. This study is meant to provide an understanding on this insect to those of the 5th grade. After reading this study, you should find yourself familiarized with this type of specimen and will be able to differentiate it from other butterflies and know it by its name. Along with this you should be able to learn some fun facts.

A Beautiful Sighting

Scenario: On September 11, 2020 I decided to take a trip to Governor’s Island. I got on the ferry with my friends and got ready for a peaceful day after being in the house for so long. We stepped into Governor’s Island on a sunny afternoon to be embraced with a lot of grass and pretty clouds with blue skies. We got on the bikes and headed to an area where we would be able to just relax and not be surrounded by people. We started to take photos of the environment when a butterfly started to fly around us. We were amazed at this pretty butterfly that decided to join our friend group. After a while of it showing us love by flying around us, it landed on a branch ready to model while our cameras were out.

_{photo 1. Governor’s Island}             

The butterfly we spotted was a monarch butterfly. Majority of it was orange with its outline being black with white dots. There were also black lines making shapes with its wings. It’s silent flutters were fast while flying along with its environment. Everything was still and quiet, the only thing to be heard was us talking. The green everywhere definitely let the butterfly stand out. Since it is September already, some of the leaves were beginning to brown and become orange, I could only imagine what this butterfly will look like in that environment in a few weeks.

_{photo 2. Monarch butterfly} 

The Migration

What was terrific about seeing the Monarch Butterfly in September is I saw it before it left. “In nature, the eastern North American monarch population is known for its southward migration during the late summer/autumn from the northern USA and southern Canada to Mexico, covering thousands of miles” (Gai-Ge Wang, Suash Deb, Zhihua Cua, 2015 p.1995). Specifically according to the article, the one I saw, the “eastern North American monarch is known for its

ability of migrating by flying thousands of miles from the USA and southern Canada to Mexico every summer” (Wang, Deb, Cui, 2015, p. 1996). By the winter time they’re in Mexico. Before summer, the female butterflies begin to lay eggs for the migration that will come.

The Darker My Wing, The Stronger My Flight

As mentioned earlier, monarchs are orange and black. According to “The Redder the Better…” the color of the butterfly is to show their predators that they are not yummy and are actually bitter (Andrew K. Davis, Jean Chi, Catherine Bradley, Sonia Altizer, 2012).  However, color can also show the performance of their flight. Experiments have been made to prove this. In the experiments they look at the size of wing as well as white type of orange the wing is. “Results showed that monarchs with darker orange (approaching red) wings flew longer distances than those with lighter orange wings” (Davis, Chi, Bradley, Altizer, 2012). It is safe to say with this information, that the butterfly I saw had less wing performance than other butterflies due to its light orange color.

_{photo 3. Orange hues}

Another thing that was interesting was that female butterflies usually have lighter wings.

_{Photo 4.}

Coco’s Conclusion

After reading the articles we can hypothesize that Coco is a female monarch butterfly that doesn’t fly for too long or too far. She also migrates from the north to the south. During the spring she most likely laid an egg for the transition into migration which I was lucky to see her before she made her way to Mexico.

References

Davis, A. K., Chi, J., Bradley, C., & Altizer, S. (n.d.). The Redder the Better: Wing Color Predicts Flight Performance in Monarch Butterflies. doi:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0041323

Wang, G., Deb, S., & Cui, Z. (2015). Monarch butterfly optimization. The Natural Computing Applications Forum 2015. doi:DOI 10.1007/s00521-015-1923-y