All 4 Butterflies!!!

Goliath***************************** Tiny



Monica***********************King George

Now I would like to share with you some of the observations I recorded during my monarch research time.

I had four caterpillars. 1 turned into a chrysalis at night, and the other 3 made their chrysalises in the morning. Goliath was the caterpillar that went into the chrysalis at night, while Tiny, Monica, and King George were the ones that made their chrysalises in the morning. I was able to see Tiny and Monica make their chrysalises, but Goliath was the only butterfly that I saw come out of the chrysalis, in it's entirety. I was able to see Goliath and King George hanging from the lid of the jar before they made their chrysalises. I suppose they are going to head south very soon. I read that they migrate about October to February. The Monarchs east of the Rocky Mountains are said to migrate in Florida, Texas, or Mexico. The Monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains tend to migrate to California.

Did you know: Not all butterflies that look like Monarch Butterflies are Monarch Butterflies? The Monarch Butterfly advertises that it is poisonous by it's colors. The Viceroy Butterfly has the same colors that say it is poisonous, but it is actually not poisonous. In contrast to the Monarch in the caterpillar and chrysalis stage, the Viceroy is quite... different. When the Viceroy is a caterpillar, it feeds on the leaves of Oak, Poplar, and Willow trees. The caterpillar looks more or less like a twig, brown and worm-like. When it makes the chrysalis, it will wrap a leaf around itself. The chrysalis is also brown, and it will get and fungus-like growth on it that looks like a wart. Yet the result of the process inside of the chrysalis will be as beautiful as the result on the Monarch. The Monarch get's it's poison from feeding on the milkweed plant, but the Viceroy gets no poison at all. The enemies of the Monarch will not eat it, as it knows it is poison, nor will it eat the Viceroy, for, it says it is poison in the same way the Monarch does, though it is not.