Monarch butterflies Close this window to return to the student page.
Men love to wonder, and that is the seed of science.
Monarch butterflies you see in this area are just passing through. They are tropical insects, but they fly as far north as Canada searching for milkweed plants on which to lay their eggs. They can't survive the northern winters, so they return south when the days begin to shorten. Above is the female Monarch. The male Monarch is below.