Newly hatched monarchs need to penetrate leaf surfaces carpeted with prickly hairs called “trichomes” and then deal with a smothering, corrosive latex that oozes from those leaves when they are cut. Monarch caterpillars feed exclusively on the common milkweed, which has evolved a formidable arsenal of defenses to discourage most herbivores from taking it out for lunch. Oddly, these ethereal creatures rely on a bitter, toxic plant for their sustenance and survival. Their bodies are like glitter in a snow globe.” Their winter refuge, which was discovered only in 1975, elicits a sense of wonder from Cornell University entomologist Anurag Agrawal, who has visited the area: “When they fly from their roosting trees, the whoosh of enumerable butterflies feels like the gentlest touch of a feather. Though individual butterflies weigh less than a dollar bill, monarchs by the millions migrate each autumn en masse from the eastern United States and Canada to the high country of central Mexico, a journey for some of as much as 2,600 miles. The familiar orange and black monarch ( Danaus plexippus) is a natural history icon-and with good reason.
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