Life cycle of the monarch butterfly – introduction

A diagram of the life cycle of the monarch butterfly showing all the stages and transitions: egg, hatching, caterpillar (larva), pupating, chrysalis (pupa), elcosing (emerging), butterfly (adult), and mating and laying eggs. (20 dpi)

As humans grow from babies to adults, we look very similar in shape and anatomy (body parts) throughout our lives. Our arms and legs get longer, we grow taller, our faces become more oval than round, and so on, but we are still recognisably human. This is similarly so for other mammals (animals that feed […]

Life cycle of the monarch – mating

Two monarch butterflies, a male and a female linked together for mating, on the branch of a tree.

To continue the life cycle and produce more of their kind, monarch butterflies need to mate. The female produces the eggs inside her body, but she needs sperm from a male to fertilise them. When the butterflies have found a partner, the male will attach the end of his abdomen to the female’s to pass […]