Kids of Faith Online Magazine

Butterflies are captivating creatures and one of creation’s many beauties. One of the most striking members of this species is the monarch butterfly.

The monarch is quite common, and can be found in North America, Australia, New Zealand, and some areas of Europe. A monarch is quite easy to recognize because of its vivid colors. Its wings are orange, spanned with black stripes, with a smattering of white spots along the edges. These wings, just like all butterflies’ wings, are made up of layer upon layer of thousands of tiny scales. The monarch uses its long proboscis to drink liquid, and its diet consists of water, nectar, and occasionally fruit juices.

The monarch goes through all four stages of complete metamorphosis: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. It begins with an egg, which is laid on the leaf of a milkweed plant. The milkweed plant and monarch butterfly have a unique relationship. Once the caterpillar hatches, it grows rapidly as it eats the leaves of the milkweed plant. The milkweed plant is mildly poisonous, and as the caterpillar eats, the toxins are released into its system. This noxiousness will stay with the butterfly even as an adult.

The monarch caterpillar is the monarch’s larva stage, and as it grows, it molts several times into new exoskeletons. In just 9 to 14 days, the caterpillar becomes ready to pupate. The last exoskeleton in the larva stage is also known as a chrysalis. Before its final molt, the caterpillar will find somewhere to fasten itself and simply hang there. There it sheds its skin for the final time. Once it hardens, the soft exoskeleton will become a protective shell and the pupa’s chrysalis. The chrysalis looks jade green, but it’s actually clear, giving a glimpse of the pupa within.

In about one to two weeks, the adult monarch is ready to emerge. The chrysalis is no longer green, and instead you can see the orange and black patterns of a monarch’s wings. The chrysalis will unexpectedly crack open, and the butterfly will appear. The monarch’s wings are soft and wet, and the butterfly must wait until the insect’s equivalent of blood warms up its body. In the hour that the butterfly must wait, it hangs onto the empty chrysalis and is very susceptible to any kind of predator. Once its wings are dry, it can fly away and begin its new life.

Monarch butterflies are poisonous due to their diet as a larva. Consequently, predators who try to eat it learn quickly that creatures with orange wings do not taste pleasant and therefore avoid them in the future. This has become a defense mechanism for other creatures, such as the Viceroy butterfly, which is not poisonous but has similar coloring to the monarch. Because the two look so similar, they are both rarely ever attacked.

Another distinctive trait of monarch butterflies is that they migrate to warmer climates during the winter. This was discovered by Dr. Fred Urquhart from the University of Toronto. Although he was very accomplished in many other areas of science, Dr. Urquhart had a fascination with butterflies since his childhood, which led him to wonder why monarch butterflies disappeared during the winter. Over the course of nearly 40 years, Dr. Urquhart opened yet another door in science through his great discovery.

In 1937, Dr. Urquhart began his quest by attempting to put tags on individual butterflies. This did not produce many results; however, three years later, he had developed a better technique of tagging. He and his wife Norah tagged thousands of butterflies from 1945 to 1952, until they requested volunteers and their cause became more well-known. During the next twenty-three years, thousands of people joined the Urquharts’ effort.

Their endeavors paid off at last in 1976 when a couple in Mexico City reported a sighting of millions of monarchs gathered on the Neovolcanic Plateau. There, nearly every monarch on the continent spends the winter in a state of hibernation. Instinctively, butterflies cluster on any surface available. As a result, the trees look orange and black from top to bottom. The monarchs stay in Mexico from February to mid-March, and then they begin their trek back north, laying eggs along the way. Although the majority of the monarchs won’t make it back, once their offspring have completed the metamorphosis cycle the next generation of butterflies will continue the wonderful journey that their parents began.

The monarch butterfly in itself is a creation confirmation. Several things point to this, such as the extraordinary transformation that occurs inside its chrysalis, and the instinct that allows the monarch to know exactly when and where to migrate. These fascinating elements could have only been the work of an Intelligent Designer. The monarch butterfly is a beautiful reminder that there is a God who cares for even the smallest details.