A Generational Journey/Continental Quest by National Geographic Magazine

The annual and awe-inspiring migration of the monarch butterfly through North America is an odyssey involving multiple genera­tions. From a first group that survives just weeks to descendants that can thrive for months, their journey is an epic one. Monarch butterflies fly to warm regions where milkweed, vital for their offspring, is available. North America has two populations: western monarchs that breed west of the Rockies and winter in coastal California, and eastern monarchs that breed in the Great Plains, Canada, and Florida, before many migrate to central Mexico for the winter.