East Texas Quarterly Magazine Summer 2013 | Page 6

Jasper, Butterfly Capital
of Texas

Jasper County, and really all of East Texas, is lucky to be
in the middle of one of the great flyways for the Monarch
butterfly migration. We get to enjoy these magnificent
travelers as they head out on their adventure in the Spring
and return in the fall.
Like migratory birds, Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus)
have evolved their ability to fly long distances to escape
winter cold and the absence of food. They are the only
insect known to man to make such a long migration.
Shorter days and cooler temperatures alert the Monarchs
emerging in the fall not to breed but to fly.
They began their lengthy journey across North
America over unfamiliar terrain, crossing over Texas to
tall fir forests in the mountains of central Mexico. once
there, they roost in trees, huddleing by the thousands,
while temperatures hover just above freezing.
People originally thought the Monarchs went to Mexico
for tropical warmth, but further studies have shown they
need cold (but not freezing)
temperatures to maintain
a state of near-suspended
animation until Spring.
An
adult
Monarch
butterfly typically lives only
a few weeks, but the Super
Generation,
the
last
generation of fall, will make
the longest flight, traveling up to 100 miles a day,
and survive half a year of
hibernation.
In early Spring, when days
get warmer and day length
increases, the Monarchs
rouse
themselves
and
begin the journey north. They
fan out in three great Texas
flyways. Those going through
the Hill Country head north
through the plains states on
a path that will take their

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East Texas Quarterly

great-grandchildren all the way to Canada. Descendants
of those going between Dallas and Tyler wind up in the
Great Lakes area, and East Texas’ transitory visitors will
populate all of the East Coast, from Florida to Nova Scotia.
It takes several generations to do this. Jasper is about 800
miles from the roosts in Mexico. A Monarch will fly 100
miles a day on the trip to Mexico, but the return flight in
Spring, is more leisurely Time must be devoted to foraging
for food, mating, and laying eggs as they travel.
By the time this first wave of the migration reaches East
Texas, two to four weeks from when they leave Mexico,
they are looking for milkweed to lay their eggs on. There
are more than 140 varieties of milkweed (Asclepias), from
plain little native plants to showy tropicals. Milkweed is
the only plant that the Monarch caterpillar will eat.
A milkweed leaf contain glycoside toxins, harmless to
Monarch caterpillars but poisonous to predators like
birds and reptiles. The caterpillars store the toxin in their