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MONARCH LIFE CYCLE
- “HELLO, WORLD!”
  
  The magical metamorphosis begins when the female monarch searches for milkweed and lays her precious eggs.
- THE MUNCHING CATERPILLAR
  
  Monarchs depend on milkweed for survival. Their caterpillars only eat milkweed plants and butterflies use it to lay their eggs.
- PEEK-A-BOO METAMORPHOSIS
  
  Watch the chrysalis as the pupa changes from the body parts of a caterpillar into the body parts of a butterfly.
- WINGS!
  
  While beautiful, the distinctive colors of a Monarch’s wings warn predators that the monarch is foul tasting and poisonous.
MILKWEED
- MILKWEED – SPRING & SUMMER
  
  Gaining its name from the milky sap secreted when stems are broken, Milkweed produces some of the most complex flowers in the plant kingdom.
- MILKWEED – FALL & WINTER
  
  With more than 100 different milkweed species native to North America, the best time to collect common milkweed is in the Fall.
- BUTTERFLY GARDENING
  
  Monarch Waystations are places that provide milkweed and nectar throughout their spring and summer breeding areas in North America.
- MILKWEED – TAKE ACTION!
  
  Grow milkweed plants for Monarch breeding and to provide them with a food source. Grow nectar plants so Monarchs have energy for migration.
MONARCH MIGRATION
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Watch the Spiracles Open and Close!

Watch as the spiracles open and close…The 9 pairs of spiracles in a butterfly’s body are pores open to the air – see them opening and closing in the video. They are connected to a network of long air tubes called tracheae, which carry oxygen throughout the body.

VIDEO: Lynn Rosenblatt