Photos courtesy of IDAHO FISH AND GAME
Freshly emerged from their chrysalises, adult monarch butterflies sip nectar from the flowers of showy milkweed.
March 5, 2017
Stories this photo appears in:
Of milkweed and butterflies
Few species spark people’s wonder and passion like the monarch butterfly. With its fiery-orange and black pattern and large wingspan, the monarch is among the most recognized of insects in North America. Its life cycle is a complex marvel involving a lengthy migration completed “relay-style” by several generations in a single year. During their summer wanderings, female monarchs lay their eggs on the leaves of milkweeds — the sole food source for their striking yellow, white, and black-striped caterpillars. Milkweeds are the essential links of the chain that connect monarch breeding populations across North America.