Birds which migrate vast distances each year have long been a marvel to interested observers – but even more marvelous is a migrating butterfly: Danaus plexippus, commonly called the Monarch butterfly.
Monarchs travel up to 3,000 miles every autumn, to gather by the millions in a small forest in central Mexico, coming from most areas of the United States and Canada. But the truly amazing thing about this annual migration is that no Monarch has ever made the round trip! Every one of the millions of winged travelers is on a first-time, one-time journey. They have no experienced leaders or scouts, and they start from thousands of locations spread across a large continent; yet they will all come together in a remote mountain area of approximately 15 square miles! And there they will cover the trees in a shimmering restless blanket of orange-black beauty, throughout the winter months.
When April signals their time of departure, the Monarchs will wake from their stupor and begin the long trek back north. But they will never reach the northern summer feeding grounds. Instead, they will mate en route, and die soon after. Their eggs will hatch into hungry caterpillars, who will feast upon milkweed leaves for several weeks before entering the chrysalis stage. Within a week or two, an adult Monarch will struggle out of the chrysalis husk, and after its wings dry and harden, it is ready to feed – and, shortly, to mate again, and die.
Altogether, one or two additional generations will exist briefly before the final, longer-lived migratory generation arrives. This end-of-summer generation will build up its energy reserves for the September departure and the long trip south.
Somehow they will know their route and their destination – though no human has penetrated this mystery. We know there can be no first-hand experience, and no transmitted knowledge. Their wings do contain slight amounts of magnetite, an iron compound which scientists speculate may give them an orientation with the earth’s magnetic field – but as they are spread across thousands of miles from east to west, there would be huge differences in their individual “compass-headings.”
Man may wonder about the influence of prevailing winds, and ask whether insects can navigate by the starts… but the surest and best answer is that the Creator who made them has given them all that they need to survive as a species. God said in the beginning: “To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food…” (Genesis 1:30). And again the Bible acknowledges: “…Yahweh, you preserve man and animal.” (Psalm 36:6).
God has given man the intelligence to discover some of the workings of this great earth which He fashioned for us… and it is good to learn His ways after Him. But it is far better to learn this truth from the Bible: “The eyes of all wait for you. You give them their food in due season. You open your hand, and satisfy the desire of every living thing.” (Psalm 145:15-16)
Truly, the God who implants the necessary wisdom in the Monarch butterflies also cares for us. The Son of God, Christ Jesus, declared: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? and not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father: but the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:29-31 ASV) God does care for His children.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the World English Bible translation.)