The monarch’s stupendous migration, dissected

Tim Vernimmen

doi:10.1146/knowable-051220-2

LAYOUT MENU

Insert PARAGRAPH

Insert IMAGE CAPTION

Insert SIDEBAR WITH IMAGE

Insert SIDEBAR NO IMAGE

Insert YMAL WITH IMAGES

Insert YMAL NO IMAGES

Insert NEWSLETTER PROMO

Insert IMAGE CAROUSEL

Insert PULLQUOTE

Insert VIDEO CAPTION

CREDIT: MAKI NARO

Living World

Comic

The monarch’s stupendous migration, dissected

COMIC: The feisty orange-black butterfly uses a toolbox of biological tricks to find its way down to Mexico for winter and flap north again in spring. Here’s how scientists figured out those tricks — and what they don’t yet understand.

By Tim Vernimmen Illustrated by Maki Naro 06.14.2018

10.1146/knowable-051220-2

Tim Vernimmen is a freelance journalist based near Antwerp, Belgium. He writes about the science of life.

Maki Naro  is an award-winning feral cartoonist and science communicator. You can reliably find him online, where he tweets from the handle @sciencecomic

Republish This Article

TAKE A DEEPER DIVE | Explore Related Scholarly Articles

Annual Review of Entomology

Neurobiology of Monarch Butterfly Migration

Explores the science behind the migration of the eastern North American monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus.

Annual Review of Entomology

Insect Migration

A vintage article from 1957 by a giant in the field of butterfly migration, British entomologist-ecologist C.B. Williams. Covers butterflies, moths, locusts, wasps, beetles and dragonflies.

Annual Review of Entomology

Anthropogenic Impacts on Mortality and Population Viability of the Monarch Butterfly

Loss of milkweed, loss of degraded habitat, climate change and more: This review outlines the threats to monarch butterfly migration in the modern world.

Republish

Thank you for your interest in republishing! This HTML is pre-formatted to adhere to our guidelines, which include: Crediting both the author and Knowable Magazine; preserving all hyperlinks; including the canonical link to the original article in the article metadata. Article text (including the headline) may not be edited without prior permission from Knowable Magazine staff. Photographs and illustrations are not included in this license. Please see our full guidelines for more information.

<p class="article-info">
Comic</p>
<h1>The monarch’s stupendous migration, dissected</h1>
<p class="article-subhead">COMIC: The feisty orange-black butterfly uses a toolbox of biological tricks to find its way down to Mexico for winter and flap north again in spring. Here’s how scientists figured out those tricks — and what they don’t yet understand.</p>
<p class="article-byline">
<span class="author-byline">By Tim Vernimmen</span>
<span class="pub-date">06.14.2018<span>
</p>
<div class="article-content">
<div class="article-text -drop-cap"><div class="article-comic"><div class="comic-panel"><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-1-1_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-1-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-2-1_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-2-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-3-1_1.gif" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-3-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-4-1_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-4-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-5-1_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-5-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-6-1_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-6-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-7-1_1.gif" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-7-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-8-1_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-8-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-9-1_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-9-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-9-3_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-10-1_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-10-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-11-1_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-11-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-12-1_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-12-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-13-1_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-13-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-14-1_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-14-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-15-1_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-15-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-16-1_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-16-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-17-1_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-17-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-18-1_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-18-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-18-3_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-19-1_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-19-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-20-1_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-20-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-21-1_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-21-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-22-1_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-22-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-23-1_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-23-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-24-1_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-24-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-25-1_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-25-2_1.gif" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-26-1_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-26-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div><div class="comic-panel-row"><div class="comic-panel-images"><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-27-1_1.gif" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div><div class="comic-panel-cell"><img alt="" src="/docserver/fulltext/10.1146/knowable-051220-2/monarch-comic-27-2_1.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></img></div></div></div></div></div></div>
</div>
<link rel="canonical" href="https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/living-world/2018/monarchs-stupendous-migration-dissected" /> 
<meta name="syndication-source" content="https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/living-world/2018/monarchs-stupendous-migration-dissected" doi="10.1146/knowable-051220-2" />

LAYOUT MENU

LAYOUT MENU

The monarch’s stupendous migration, dissected

Support Knowable Magazine

Neurobiology of Monarch Butterfly Migration

Insect Migration

Anthropogenic Impacts on Mortality and Population Viability of the Monarch Butterfly

Science literacy is more important than ever. Help us combat misinformation.

Republish