Monarch Monitoring Project: Budding Romance

It’s that time of year again, when all creatures have that romantic urge: the flowers are popping up, the birds are singing, the butterflies are flirting. That time of year that caused Thumper in Bambi to ask, “Why are they acting that way?” with the response by Friend Owl, “They’re twitterpated.” Except, hold on a sec. That isn’t right. In Bambi, this scene occurred in the spring. And the flowers are certainly not popping up anymore. Some are surely still blooming, but these are no young flowers. And the birds are migrating. But you can still find butterflies mating around the point. Which is very bizarre behavior indeed for this time of year.

Why is this strange? Well, like I mentioned in a previous post, the Monarchs flying around Cape May this time of year are a “Super” generation. They can live 8-9 months whereas the lifespan of another generation is only 6 weeks. Why? Because the “Super” generation Monarchs repress the urge to reproduce. They focus on nectaring and storing lipids, or fats, that will help them survive the journey to Mexico and the winter at 10,000-12,000 feet where there is no food. Reproducing takes a lot of energy so NOT reproducing allows a Monarch to funnel that energy into travel. Therefore, in theory, we should not be seeing any Monarchs mating at this time of year. They should all be hanging out, boys and girls cohabitating nicely together, without any of that silly reproduction drama. And yet, there is always that exception to the rule. We DO see Monarchs still mating. October 12^th, I saw 3 separate pairs of Monarchs mating (or “hugging” as my 8-year old helper now innocently calls it). These Monarchs look healthy and I would suspect that they are migrating--any eggs they lay now would have a hard time making it through the whole metamorphosis with limited milkweed at this time of year. Yet, they are wasting valuable resources by attempting to reproduce. Which must mean that it is true butterfly love, for these Monarchs to sacrifice valuable energy needed for overwintering in Mexico.

Here is a mating pair of Monarchs, observed today in Cape May Point: the male (top) is holding the female.