
Quick Facts
- The eastern monarch population migrates over 5,000 miles round trip to reach overwintering grounds in Mexico.
- The western monarch populations migrate to overwintering sites on the Pacific coast, such as Pismo Beach or Natural Bridges in Santa Cruz.
- The monarch’s migration is not made by a single generation; it takes four generations of monarchs to mate, hatch, metamorphose, and complete a full migration cycle.
- The milkweed that monarchs eat as caterpillars contains a poisonous toxin that is stored in their bodies; they retain that toxin in their bodies throughout their lives, and it protects them from predators.