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The Monarchs Have Landed
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The monarchs that left our gardens are landing right about now.
In the mountains of Mexico, about 2,300 miles away.
Most monarchs live just a few weeks. But the ones that fly south live up to 8 months.
They steer by the sun, with a clock in their antennae.
They arrive around the Day of the Dead.
And not one of them has ever been there before.
Plant milkweed for next year.
Milkweed is the only food source for monarch caterpillars. Plant native milkweed where you live.
Data: US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Forest Service, Monarch Watch, Journey North, Northern Woodlands, and the sun compass studies of Mouritsen and Frost (2002) and Merlin, Gegear and Reppert (2009).