Re: Do migrating butterflies make the entire journey?

Answer here [on "Journey North" website]:

Q. How long do adult Monarchs live?
A. This depends on when they live (summer or winter). It also varies a lot among individuals (just like it does it humans). In the summer, adults live from 2 to 6 weeks in captivity, and probably about that long in the wild. The ones that migrate live longer, from August or September to about April (although a lot die before this). When people hear this, they say they'd rather be a migratory monarchs, but these butterflies probably face many more risks, and are likely to have a smaller chance of getting offspring into the next generation."

I guess I don't know as much about butterflies as I thought?

Still, it remains a mystery to me how a butterfly can be born with a "map" in its tiny brain which will guide it from Canada to a very small region in Central Mexico.

It's easier to understand how migrating geese navigate. They are responding to light cues. This isn't what cues in Monarch butterflies.

Gnats are harder to love, but easier to understand.