The Monarch Butterfly

The subject of my picture gallery is the monarch butterfly. The audience is geared towards 3rd through 5th graders. The objective of the gallery is to teach students about the life cycle of a butterfly and to show specific characteristics of monarchs. The first four pictures are butterfly eggs, caterpillar, cocoon, and an adult butterfly. I used these pictures as the life cycle. They help to show each stage in the cycle. The next picture is of a single adult monarch. This was used to illustrate the color because it has bright orange and black colors. The next picture is of a side view of another adult monarch but it is on a pink flower. This is used to show how they eat nectar. The following picture is of a stinkbug and field mouse they show two of the monarchs enemies, who can eat them without getting sick. The next picture after that is of several butterflies in a tree. This image was used to illustrate monarchs in migration and how they must stop and rest along the way. The two following images are a male and female monarch. This helped to show the differences between them. The next picture is of four eggs on a milkweed plant. This was used to help explain characteristics of the eggs themselves. The next two pictures were of a caterpillar and another adult monarch. This section was on the sizes if the two creatures. The following two pictures were cocoons in different stages. This showed how the metamorphosis works. Last but not least, a large side view of an adult monarch butterfly was used. It was used in this section to show the different parts of the butterfly's anatomy.

Life Cycle

Characteristics

of a

Monarch Butterfly

Color: Monarchs are orange and black with white and brown spots along their wings. If eaten, the animal will become sick. The poison in butterflies come from the plants they ate as caterpillars.
	Food: Baby caterpillars or larvae eat milkweed leafs after they hatch. Adult butterflies eat nectar from flowers. They also drink liquid from fruit.
Enemies: Most animals that try to eat monarchs throw up after a few minutes. This happens to birds a lot. There still some animals that can eat monarch butterflies like the stinkbug and field mice.	Stinkbugs Mice
	Migration: Every year around August, monarch butterflies being to migrate from Canada and Northern United States to Central Mexico. This process happens until November. The record for the amount of travel is 265 miles in one day.
Male & Female Monarchs: There are a few differences between male and female monarchs. Males have black spots on their hind wings used for scent marking and courtship. The abdomen ends are different shapes also. The female butterflies have thicker wing veins.	Male Female
	Eggs: An adult female can lie up to 200 eggs in one day. Butterfly eggs are about the size of a pinhead. Female monarchs only lay their eggs on milkweed plants.
Size: The average size of a caterpillar is three centimeters. But, they can be anywhere between 1-5 cm. The average size of an adult monarch butterfly is about 10 centimeters in length. The measurement is taken from the widest part of the butterflies’ body.
	Cocoon: When the time for the caterpillar to turn into a butterfly it must go through a pupa stage. This is where they spin a chrysalis or cocoon. This the cocoon goes through three stages. The first stage is called the fresh pupa where the cocoon is green and rough. The stage is where the cocoon stays green but the outside becomes smooth. When the caterpillar has finished metamorphosis, (changing), into a butterfly, the cocoon will become clear and have no color.

	Butterfly Body Parts
Antenna (Feelers) Head Thorax (Chest) Legs		Forewing (Top wings) Wing Veins Hind wing (Bottom wings) Abdomen (Lower body)

Learn More About Monarch Butterflies

Created By: Amber Heisler

Last Date Modified: February 20, 2005