Monarch butterflies are not only beautiful, they also
demonstrate the wisdom of God by their amazing migration. It is something impressive when a small bird
navigates many miles to arrive at just the right destination. But the Monarch is even more awe inspiring
because its trip involves multiple generations and even the creation of Super
Butterflies. It’s a story that begins
when a butterfly lays an egg on a milkweed plant on a Spring day in Texas
or Oklahoma.
The mother butterfly always chooses milkweed because the
caterpillar that will be born eats only the leaves of milkweed. It’s a plant that has such a bitter taste
that grazing animals will leave it alone and it also means that the caterpillar
itself tastes yucky to most potential predators.
After munching on leaves for several weeks and growing
rapidly the caterpillar forms a chrysalis and two weeks later a new Monarch
will emerge. As Spring turns into Summer,
the flowers that produce nectar for Monarchs will begin to dry up, which means
that it’s time to head North. How does
it know which direction is North? Not
sure about that (and neither is anyone else).
The Monarch will only live for a little over a month,
which limits the distance it can cover, so it will find another milkweed plant
and lay eggs that will produce a second generation. The process will be repeated until there is a
third generation of butterfly that will arrive in places like Ontario, New
York, Michigan, Wisconsin or Minnesota.
That’s when the fourth generation will be born, the Super Butterflies. This generation will be bigger, stronger and
will live eight or nine months.
As Summer turns to Fall, the Monarch begins to store fat
to prepare for a long trip. It will fly
South and keep flying until it reaches the Mariposa Monarca Biosphere Reserve
in the mountains of Mexico, a distance of up to 3,000 miles. These butterflies that were born in a variety
of Northern states will always navigate to the same place, a place they have
never seen. The trees are so thick with
Monarchs that they look like they have orange, yellow and black leaves. They will gather to spend the Winter and then
in February or March they will head north to begin the cycle one more time.
Yes, I know that there are some who would consider their
story and conclude that evolution is so amazing that it provided these lucky
insects DNA that somehow gives them a built in compass and somehow directs
every fourth generation to be “Super” and somehow points them to the right spot
in Mexico at the right time. The plain
truth is that there is no way the theory of evolution plus time plus blind
chance can begin to explain the migration of the Monarch. It’s far more reasonable to say, as the
psalmist once did, “He commanded and they
were created.” (Psalm 148:5)
