The monarch butterfly population is on the decline.
Butterfly enthusiast Dick Arnold tells us how the butterfly benefits us. Dick raises butterflies and he tells us about how he tags them, and how we can protect the population.
Dick says the life cycle of the monarch butterfly is what fascinates him the most. Once he releases the butterflies, they fly to Mexico. They semi-hibernate in the winter and then they head north in the spring.
Dick says they get as far north as Canada and when they start heading south it is actually the fourth or fifth generation of monarchs.
A caterpillar eats 24 hours a day on milkweed, lives 10-12 days, and then forms a chrysalis. The chrysalis will look like an emerald for about 10 days and then they hatch out as a butterfly.
Dick shows us how to tag a butterfly and if they make it to Mexico, they report back to him that his butterflies made it.
To help the butterfly population, we can plant milkweed so that the monarchs can eat and lay their eggs on the plant.
