What do monarchs get from milkweed?

Toxins that make them taste bad

Monarch Butterfly Quiz: Milkweed, Toxins and Mexico Migration

This monarch butterfly quiz follows orange wings from milkweed patches to Mexican mountain forests. Play 10 interactive questions on caterpillars that eat only milkweed, toxins stored for defense, warning colors, the viceroy mimic, a migration of up to about 4,000 km, oyamel fir forests in Michoacán, a long-lived super generation and navigating by the sun.

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🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Plant
Which plant do monarch caterpillars eat?
Toxin
What do monarchs get from milkweed?
Color
What do the bright orange wings warn?
Mimic
Which butterfly looks similar to the monarch?
Migrate
Where do eastern monarchs spend winter?
Trees
Which trees do they cluster on?
Distance
About how far can the migration be?
Super
What is special about the migrating generation?
Navigate
How do monarchs find their way?
Help
How can people help monarchs?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Which plant do monarch caterpillars eat?
Answer: Milkweed
It is their only food plant.
Q2: What do monarchs get from milkweed?
Answer: Toxins that make them taste bad
Birds learn to avoid them.
Q3: What do the bright orange wings warn?
Answer: That monarchs are distasteful
This is warning coloration.
Q4: Which butterfly looks similar to the monarch?
Answer: Viceroy
It is also distasteful.
Q5: Where do eastern monarchs spend winter?
Answer: Mountain forests in Mexico
Millions cluster on trees.
Q6: Which trees do they cluster on?
Answer: Oyamel firs
They are in Michoacán.
Q7: About how far can the migration be?
Answer: Up to about 4,000 km
Tiny insects travel far.
Q8: What is special about the migrating generation?
Answer: It lives many months longer
Summer adults live weeks.
Q9: How do monarchs find their way?
Answer: Using the sun as a compass
They adjust for time of day.
Q10: How can people help monarchs?
Answer: Plant native milkweed
Gardens become way stations.

Milkweed Toxins and an Epic Journey

Monarch caterpillars eat only milkweed. They store toxins from the plant, which make both caterpillars and adults taste bad to birds. The butterflies' bright orange wings warn predators, and the viceroy butterfly looks similar and is also distasteful.

In autumn, eastern monarchs migrate up to about 4,000 km to oyamel fir forests in the mountains of Michoacán, Mexico, where millions cluster on trees for winter. The migrating generation lives many months, while summer adults live only weeks.

Monarchs navigate using the sun as a compass, adjusting for the time of day. Several generations make the return trip north in spring. People help by planting native milkweed and nectar flowers, turning gardens into way stations.

What This Quiz Teaches

Nature fans will enjoy these questions.

What monarchs eat
Why they are toxic
Where they migrate
How they navigate
How people can help

Did You Know?

Western monarchs winter in California.
Wintering sites are protected reserves.
Their arrival coincides with Day of the Dead.
Tagging programs track migration.
Chrysalises have gold dots.