Day 425: 5 Minute Freewrite: Wednesday-Prompt: our greatest journey

whatisnew (65)in #freewrite • 6 years ago

Day 425: 5 Minute Freewrite Challenge initiated by @mariannewest. Wednesday-Prompt: our greatest journey

photo by me @whatisnew

The Monarch Family

We Monarchs are beautiful and amazing butterflies. We only live for 2-5 weeks in the U.S. and Canada during the spring and summer, but we produce several generations every year to keep the family going.

When summer is over and temperatures cool, those of us who live in Western North America will overwinter in California. Those of us, who live in Eastern North America at the end of the summer, are the ones who will migrate to the mountains of Mexico. Thousands of us will fly up to 3,000 miles to get to the Oyamel Fir Forests in Mexico and we will huddle together on the fir trees to stay warm. Not all of us will make it to our winter home, but those of us who do will live for a total of 8 months.

In the spring when the temperatures rise and the days get longer, we will mate and produce the first generation of Monarchs who were born in Mexico. This is the generation who will fly back to the U.S. and begin producing more generations. It will take 3-4 generations of us to reach the Northern U.S. and Canada.

We Monarchs are the only butterfly in the world that make the yearly, two way migration just like birds and for those of us that do this, it is our greatest journey in our family's history.

This cute gif is brought to you by @brisby. Thank you!