How do monarch butterflies find these distant, secluded mountain regions without ever visiting them before?
Many hypotheses have been proposed about the orientation of monarch butterflies. How do these small, fragile insects make it over 3600 km to a specific section of fir forest year after year? The monarchs that arrive in the Oyamel mountains are 3 to 5 generations older than the last butterflies that overwintered in these areas (Brower, 1996). How do they know where to go? Some scientists propose that monarchs use a sun compass to orient themselves in the right direction (Perez et al., 1997). The monarch’s internal clock mechanism was manipulated in the laboratory to try to reorient the butterfly’s flight direction. Whether released from captivity or in their natural environment the butterflies had similar flight orientation patterns (Perez et al., 1997). This confirms that monarchs do use the Sun as a compass to assist them on their southward winter migrations. They orient their bodies depending on the time of day and the location of the Sun. However, other factors must influence monarc
