My Little Butterfly

About a month ago, I asked my daughter what she wanted to be for Halloween.  I made a few suggestions starting with popular princesses, a few traditional Halloween costumes for little ones, and then I mentioned a few animals.  My little nature lover’s eyes lit up when I suggested a butterfly.  That’s what she wanted to be; and before I even started looking at costumes, my daughter began telling everyone what she was going to be for Halloween.  There was no changing her mind.  So I had to immediately set out in search of the perfect butterfly costume.  There were a lot to choose from, but I found a beautiful monarch butterfly costume.  We’ve worn it a few times already to various Halloween events, and she loves it!  The funny thing about the costume is that she can’t wear the wings in the car or in large crowds; so when we take off the wings, she happily says she’s a caterpillar.  I also found a toy replica of the life cycle of the monarch for her.  Now she reenacts The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle using her new toys.  I’m so proud of my little butterfly.

There are many animals that have strange life cycles, where the animal hatches out of an egg looking one way and then metamorphoses into a completely different looking animal as an adult, most notably frogs and butterflies.  But the monarch’s life cycle is unique among animals that go through metamorphosis in that it migrates long distances.  The unusual part of this migration is that butterflies don’t have long life spans.  Therefore, to complete the monarch’s migration, it takes about four generations of butterflies, with the fourth generation doing most of the traveling.   So there is more to the monarch butterfly, the king of butterflies, than just a single life cycle.

Generally, monarchs mate and lay eggs on milkweed in March and April somewhere in the US and Canada.  It takes a few days for the caterpillars to hatch from their eggs.  Then, their priority is to eat the milkweed plant and grow bigger for about two weeks.  Next they build their chrysalis around their bodies and metamorphose into butterflies in about ten days.  When their pupa stage inside the chrysalis is over, they emerge as adult butterflies.  They live for two to six more weeks drinking nectar, mating, and laying eggs.  The cycle starts all over again in May and June, July and August, and again in September and October.  But the final life cycle of the year is different.  When they emerge from their chrysalis as adult butterflies, they are not able to mate and the cooler weather acts as a signal, telling them it’s time to migrate to a warmer climate.  They do not survive in cold weather.  During the month of October, monarchs all over the US and Canada start their migration south to Mexico and Southern California.  They hibernate on the same trees every year in large numbers.  Milkweed does not grow where the monarchs hibernate; so when the weather warms up, they again head north.  Once they arrive where there is milkweed, they are able to mate again and lay eggs in March and April to start the cycle again.

My little monarch butterfly might not understand the generations of life cycles and the monarch’s amazing migration just yet.  But she does understand a single life cycle and is already an advocate for these amazing creatures.  I just love my daughter’s enthusiasm and adoration for nature!  Did your child/children dress in a costume inspired by nature for Halloween?  I would love to see them.  Feel free to share your pictures or stories by posting them to this article.