[thegreentreefrog]

The Secret Message Carried by the Monarch Butterfly

Recent Scientific research has raised more questions than answers about the Monarch Butterfly.
HOW can it travel from Canada 2,000 miles to a location high the mountains of Mexico each year on its annual migration, and locate an area its never been to before?
One theory is it uses the angle of the sun and Magnetic fields of the earth to navigate. Possible but that raises the questions of HOW does it know the location to go to? How can a 100 million butterfly’s all start the migration at the same time? Why is only the 4th generation programmed to return to its Origin?

This Amazing little Creature continues to mystify science. Until we “Think Out Of The Box.” and stop asking HOW and ask WHY!

If you visited Earth 6 million years ago the dinosaurs would have been long gone (66 million years)The signs of early man and Humans would not appear until 200,000 years ago. It took you a million years to get here and you decide to leave a Message for future mankind. So build a pyramid? No, Maybe bury a time capsule No. None of these Great monuments would last Millions of years, and what message would you leave?

“Time to think out of the box”
You genetically imprint a tiny creature to do some thing truly AMAZING, Something that will catch the attention of a future intelligent civilization. Something that when looked at closely by the GREAT MINDS of the day will seem impossible.
The message you program will self replicate itself each year a 100 million times and over and over for MILLENNIUMS. The Monarch does not breed with other species, and is not effected by NATURAL SELECTION. You are looking at Pure Perfection.

Why? This is the Message

The Rebirth and Unbroken Cycle of life will survive !
Forget the HOW and accept your mortality.

[Terry]

No need to think out of any box! All Monarchs from USA/Canada do not end up in the same forest. There are always a few flying at lower elevations in Mexico and still breeding. Its all part of a survival strategy and in other parts of the world where Monarchs have spread they will be found in either large clusters for the winter or smaller clusters spread out over a wide area. They cluster to keep warm and for protection in foul weather and those in the center will have a better chance of survival in case of an unexpected cold snap. It is well known that on unusually warm winter days Monarchs will disassemble from there chosen tree and fly to nearby flowers to nectar. The short day-length triggers them to head for warmer climes and they stop reproduction. there is a crossover point between day-length and temperature whereby the Monarch will become sexually active again. I have kept Monarchs in captivity in the UK and overwintered them in a butterfly house and there was no attempt to head south as the winter moved in. They just stopped breeding and would all cluster together in a lemon tree I had at the north east end. When the temperature in the spring reached a crossover point they just started breeding again. They would always come down and feed on winter days when it was sunny enough but only when temperature and daylight crossover point was reached would they start breeding again. My captive Yellow Admirals vanessa itea show traits of genetic memory, having been bred for 22 years in the same environment from the same genetic line, they have adapted to recognizing the artificial feeding stations as a source of nectar. If I walk into the butterfly house with the colored sponges that absorb the nectar when placed in the feeding stations they will even fly down to my hand where I am holding them thinking they can get nectar before I have even soaked them, so no smell involved in detection just visual memory that these blue sponges mean a nectar source. All species adapt to survive and do so in a variety of ways. The most adaptable survive the best. In Mexico when catastrophe occurs and millions of Monarchs die due to cold winter snaps and loss of forest due to mankind’s activities those monarchs in the lowlands and survivors from the roosting trees will just take longer to build up numbers on the way North in the spring, however the main reason for low numbers are due to the food-plants being destroyed by human activity such as agricultural activity and other human developments.

[Author]

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