The monarch is the rare wild animal almost everyone has met: an orange-and-black butterfly drifting through a summer garden.Source 1
More than beautiful, monarchs are pollinators—while feeding on nectar they pollinate many kinds of wildflowers.Source 1
Their caterpillars, though, eat one thing. Monarchs must lay their eggs on milkweed.Source 1Source 2
Each autumn, monarchs east of the Rockies fly to overwinter in the mountains of central Mexico, while western monarchs gather at sites on the California coast.Source 1Source 2
No single butterfly makes the whole journey. The migration is completed across generations.Source 1
Once abundant across North America, monarchs are now in decline, pressed by habitat loss, pesticides, and a changing climate.Source 2
Their recovery is unusually close to home: milkweed native to your region, nectar flowers from spring through fall, and gardens managed without pesticides.Source 2
To witness the monarch is to notice that even a common wonder can thin—and that a backyard can be part of the answer.Source 2
