350: Monarch Butterfly

It's fall yall - time for Ellen and Christian to embark on a multi-generational odyssey with monarch butterflies. We discuss why butterflies are total heartstoppers and their style twins, real-life shinies, what's going on inside a chrysalis, an annual journey that takes multiple generations to finish, how to best support wild monarch butterflies, and so much more.

Works Cited:

• "Danaus plexippus (fws.gov/species/monarch-danaus-plexippus)" - U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

• “Predator induced colour polymorphism in Danaus plexippus L. (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) in Hawaii (nature.com/articles/hdy1990110)” - John Stimson and Mark Berman, Heredity, March 1990

• “Comparative unpalatability of mimetic Viceroy butterflies (Limenitis archippus) from 4 South-Eastern United-States populations (researchgate.net/publication/226749045_Compara…)” - David B. Ritland, Oecologia, Jan 1995

• “What was learned? (monarchwatch.org/space/what-was-learned.html)” - Monarch Watch, University of Kansas

• "The phenomenal monarch migration (fws.gov/story/phenomenal-monarch-migration)" - Mara Koenig, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

• “An experimental displacement and over 50 years of tag-recoveries show that monarch butterflies are not true navigators (pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1221701110)” - Henrik Mouritsen et al., PNAS, April 2013

• "Joint Statement Regarding Captive Breeding and Releasing of Monarchs (xerces.org/monarchs/joint-statement-regarding-…)"

• “Is Captive Rearing Hurting Monarchs? (nwf.org/Home/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2026/…)” - Elizabeth Anne brown, National Wildlife Federation, March 2026

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