monarch butterfly: Media

insect

Videos

Monarch butterfly migration explained
Learn about the monarch butterfly, including its annual migration to Mexico.
Video: Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail © Rinus Baak/Dreamstime.com
How can we help protect monarch butterflies?
Every year, monarch butterflies fly south for winter—sometimes traveling up to 1,800...
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Moths vs. butterflies: Can you tell the difference?
Both belong to the order Lepidoptera.
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Watch a caterpillar larva eat milkweed, form a pupa, and emerge as a monarch butterfly
Learn about the life cycle of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus).
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Observe a monarch butterfly coming out of its chrysalis
Time-lapse video of a monarch butterfly, filmed by Neil Bromhall.
Video: Video by Neil Bromhall; music, Musopen.org (A Britannica Publishing Partner)

Images

Monarch butterfly on Buddleja
A monarch butterfly visiting the flowers of a butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii).
© R. Gino Santa Maria/stock.adobe.com
Monarch butterfly life cycle
Illustration of a monarch butterfly's life cycle.
© Nicolas Primola/Shutterstock.com
Monarch butterfly chrysalis
Chrysalis of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus).
© Index Open
Monarch butterfly
A composite of five different views of a monarch butterfly emerging from its chrysalis....
© CathyKeifer—iStock/Getty Images
life cycle of the monarch butterfly
Life cycle of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus).
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Monarch butterfly
Illustration of a monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus).
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Interactives

Monarch caterpillar and butterfly
Move the slider to see a larval monarch caterpillar (left) and the adult monarch...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Monarch butterfly migration
Migratory monarch butterflies migrate south each fall, sometimes traveling about...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Podcasts

“The Precarious State of the Monarch Butterfly”
John Rafferty of Encyclopædia Britannica discusses two species of monarch butterflies...